Supernova
by SoraIsMyHomeboy
Summary: "Did you know stars shine brightest right before they burn out?" Sequel to Falling Stars BUT FALLING STARS IS A VERY FAST READ! It honestly takes about an hour to read it and you'll get hooked;  Katie and co. are back for another disastrous adventure...
1. Chapter 1

"Look out, Katie!" Sora called as a huge dark claw swung down to crush me. I dove and rolled to the side away from it. It pounded into the ground, shaking the earth. While its arm was out, I leapt onto it and ran up it until I was at the Darkside's head. Gripping my sword firmly, I plunged the glowing blade into the giant Heartless' eye. It reared back and gripped at the wound, flinging me backward. I tumbled through the air, trying to catch myself, as I headed straight for the rocky ground. Sora was running over to the spot where I'd land (probably to try and catch me, which would hurt him a lot more than it would hurt me), but Kairi got there first. Holding a hand high into the air, she called out, "Reflect!" An invisible barrier appeared under me and I bounced off of it, landing lightly on the ground.

"Thanks, Kairi," I nodded. Then all three of us turned as the Darkside stumbled back, getting closer and closer, threatening to step on us. We began to run to escape it while Riku leapt in front of us protectively and shot a series of Thunders at its force balanced the Heartless back out before it crushed us. Roxas, who was still in front, ran and leapt fifty feet into the air, bringing his Keyblade straight down through the enemy. He landed on his feet as the Darkside dissipated. We all stood silently for a moment, then began to laugh.

"You should've seen your faces!"

"You were so scared!"

"Just scared that you couldn't keep up with me!"

We continued laughing. After a minute, our giggles softly died down.

"Well, you think that did it?" asked Roxas. "It did seem to be their leader."

"We should report back to Leon," decided Sora. I nodded and we all walked across the empty plains of Radiant Garden toward Merlin's house.

It's been a year since the incident with Vanitas. Shortly after all that, Leon and the others moved in to Hollow Bastion, which is now known as Radiant Garden. They renovated it and made it a decent place to live. Now it's home to lots of people. Kairi and I have been working a lot over the past year on fighting skills. Not to brag or anything, but I can easily take down Leon now. Magic, however, eludes me. No matter how hard I concentrate or focus on learning it, it won't come to me. Kairi still hasn't mastered a sword, but she's amazing at magic. She makes it look simple. That makes it even more frustrating. But whatever, everyone has their skills.

Sora and I are officially together. As in, everyone knows about our previously-hidden feelings now. For awhile, things were awkward. Everyone could tell we liked each other, but neither of us would say it and no one wanted to bring it up for fear of being clobbered by one of us. But finally, I got so sick of all the tension that I just let it all out. Looking back, I've had more graceful moments…

_We all sat out on the palm tree at sunset, Roxas included, as he had moved back to Destiny Islands. It was silent as we just enjoyed the beauty of the sun on the water and each other's company. It was starting to get late and night was setting in. Finally, Riku broke the silence._

_ "Well, uh, I should head in for the night, but um, if some of you guys wanna stay, go ahead…" _(He glanced over at Sora and I for a fraction of a second as he said it. They think I don't notice this stuff. I do.)

_"I should…probably get some rest too," added Roxas, stretching and getting up. Kairi followed and they all awkwardly turned to leave. _(As if I didn't know what they were doing! I'm not stupid!)

_ "HEY!" I yelled, leaping up and causing them all to jump in shock, even Sora. "Listen! If Sora and I wanna be alone, we'll ask! Just because we SEEM like we MIGHT like each other doesn't necessarily mean we do! But maybe we do! Maybe I am in love with Sora! What's the big deal? Is it a big deal to say that? Huh?"_

By this point, their eyes had all widened to the size of pizzas and their expressions were so shocked that you may have thought they just saw the Grim Reaper disco dancing or something. But as if I hadn't made enough of a scene already, I whipped around to face Sora then.

_"Is it a big deal to say I love you? I love you, Sora! Will you go out with me?"_

_ Then I froze too. My own words had surprised me. Sure, I'd recited them a million times in my head but not like that. I gulped as an uneasy silence thicker than fog settled in. After a moment though, Sora's stunned face melted into a smile._

_ "Of course," he nodded, sliding off of the tree and wrapping me up in a tight hug. Riku, Kairi, and Roxas hid their smiles as they pretended to be observing the sky or their shoes. "I love you too," Sora whispered in my ear during our embrace, so quietly that no one else heard it._

So, not the most romantic or creative way to ask someone out but…it worked!

We reached Merlin's house and stepped inside to find Leon, Yuffie, Tifa, Merlin, Rai, and Seifer. It turned out that Rai and Seifer wanted to continue helping Leon and the gang protect people. If someone had told me that a year ago when I first met those bullyish pushovers, I would've laughed. But getting to know them better, Rai and Seifer really weren't as mean as they seemed. Or tough. Seifer actually has kind of a soft spot for me. He'd never admit it, but it's there. I almost think he likes me, but I can't tell for sure.

"Well, look who's back!"

Oh, Cid is here to. He's an old friend of Leon's who works in the gummi industry. He's also been helping with the Heartless problem. A surge of them flared up in Radiant Garden and we're still not exactly sure why yet.

Cid clicked a few buttons on his huge computer. 'Well, whatever you guys just did, it worked! The Heartless level went down a whole lot! It's almost gone completely!"

"Well, I guess that Darkside was the source of them after all!" Roxas smiled.

"Darkside?" Seifer became interested.

"Yeah, it was this HUGE Heartless that we had to take out! It was crazy! Katie, like, ran up its arm and gouged its eye out!" Sora yelled excitedly. Yuffie gagged.

"Yeah, but Roxas practically ripped the whole thing in half!" I added.

"Riku had some awesome magic, though!" Kairi joined in.

"You too, Kairi!" Riku reminded her.

"Sounds like a team effort," concluded Tifa, smiling at our excitement over one battle.

"Yeah, it was!" Sora nodded. I walked over to the computer and looked at the screen over Cid's shoulder. There was a layout of the town and in one corner, a large black dot was shown.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing to the mark.

"_That_ is the darkness remaining in this world," Cid explained. "That's where the rest of the Heartless are hidin' out. That Darkside wasn't the source of 'em. A leader maybe, but that right there is where they're all comin' from."

"Why though?" Riku crossed his arms. "Why would a wave of them suddenly sprout up here?"

"Who knows?" Cid shrugged. "I'll keep looking into it."

"Let's hope it doesn't spread," Roxas glanced out the window. "The last thing we need is another full-universe invasion."

The last time all the worlds fell into peril, Sora and Roxas were the ones to stop it. Riku, Kairi, and I stayed on the island, but I remember being so worried about them. Apparently, Sora had given up his own heart to stop the darkness, which created Vanitas, but luckily got the light part of his heart back. Otherwise, he'd still be a Heartless.

"Well, let's go then," I commanded, standing up tall. "We've got work to do."

Woah, let's just slow down for a sec," Leon jumped in. "You were all just Heartless hunting for days. Why don't you take a little break?"

"Break? I can't slow down now!" I was ready to eliminate those Heartless for good.

"Alright, then at least do some training," Leon sighed.

"Training?" I groaned. "Leon, I don't need to train! That's for rookies! I'm a full-fledged hero now! Besides, I'm already better than you are."

"Oh really," he raised his eyebrows. "We'll see about that."

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Leon can't pass up a challenge."

I laughed. "Leon, I beat you in sword fighting every day. I'm pretty sure-"

"We're not going to be sword fighting," he smirked.

"Huh?"

"Let's have a magic duel."


	2. Chapter 2

Leon and I walked to the outskirts of town where there was a large circular tile floor. Roxas had come to watch us duel. The rules were that weapons could only be used for blocking. All offense had to be done with magic. I nervously faced Leon at the start of battle, palms getting sweaty. I couldn't even get a single magic spell to work. I didn't know how I'd win this fight. I remembered the first thing I had learned from Leon: Never get cocky in combat. I guess I hadn't realized that applied to out-of-battle circumstances too. The annoying thing about Leon was that he could keep his cool and get back at you when he wanted to. If you were bragging or showing off around him, you'd regret it.

_Kick his butt_, Roxas mouthed to me. I smiled, but I wasn't any more confident. Leon had a slight smirk as he waited for me. Taking a deep breath, I drew my sword. He didn't hesitate. Immediately, I was assaulted with a large fireball which I guarded, but the force pushed me backwards. Leon proceeded to cast Thunder and I cringed as tiny bolts of electricity rained down from above. As my breathing picked up pace, I concentrated all my energy and pointed my blade at Leon.

"Blizzard!"

Nothing happened. I growled in frustration as another wave of Thunder hit me.

"C'mon, Katie! Focus!" called Roxas. _Not helping…_ I mumbled in my head. Well, actually, it sorta did. It certainly didn't help me concentrate, but his support kept me from getting too disheartened.

_Alright, Katie, c'mon. You can do this._ I peptalked myself in my head. _Just let it come naturally._

I closed my eyes as I ran, calming myself. I quickly opened them as I felt a fire burning inside. I leapt through the air, pointing my sword down at Leon and yelling, "FIRE!"

An array of lightning bolts shot down on him. He Reflected them and smiled competitively. "Not bad. Most interesting Fire spell I've ever seen."

I growled. I had tried to use Fire! Why had it been Thunder instead? At least I had managed to conjure up _something._ Leon didn't take it any easier on me. He fired a gust of Aero. I shielded myself with one hand, trying to see through the gale. Another huge orb of fire blasted through the wind and connected directly with my gut. I cried out as I was thrown through the air, landing loudly on my back. I lay there groaning, muscles aching. Roxas ran over.

"You OK, Katie?" he asked worriedly, though I could see amusement in his eyes.

"Yeah," I rolled my eyes as I got up and brushed myself off.

"Want me to beat him up for you?" Roxas chuckled. I laughed too, and was tempted to say yes, but Leon walked over just then.

"You need to work on your magic some more."

I sighed. "I've been trying Leon. I just can't do it."

"Alright, alright. How about we head back and rest up. It's been a long day."

We all agreed with that. We headed back toward Merlin's as evening slowly fell.

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><p>I couldn't sleep that night, so I went out to the wall by the Bailey and sat, gazing at the stars. The town was so peacefully silent at night and the sky was especially clear that week. You could see the stars distinctly, shining down and twinkling as if smiling at the world. I smiled back. Even as a kid, I'd had a fascination with stars. Most people on the island would marvel at the sunset and watch it every evening as a family. I would wait until night, after the sun had already set, to go outside and admire the sky.<p>

As I watched the air above, a falling star shot across the darkness. I smiled as I thought back to my first adventure. It had been so sudden and unexpected. But if all that hadn't happened, I'd still just be an island girl living a normal life. Everything I had now, the adventures, the friends, the sights I had seen, were so incredible that I couldn't imagine my old life anymore. True, this life was dangerous and hard and sometimes terrifying, but I wouldn't give it up for anything.

I turned quickly when I heard footsteps behind me. Sora walked over and jumped up onto the ledge before slumping down next to me. "Hey," he greeted.

"Hey."

"Couldn't sleep?"

"Nope. You either?"

"Nah."

He followed me in observing the sky. "Some night," he mused.

"Yeah," I agreed. "It's _beautiful_. Did you know that, even after stars go out, we can see their light for years and years?"

"Yeah, it's amazing!" nodded Sora.

"Stars actually shine brightest right before they go out," I continued, staring into space as I talked. "As they burn out, their radiance is stronger than ever."

"Hmmm," Sora smiled in wonder as he listened. We both fell silent for awhile.

"Sora?"

"Yeah?"

"If you could go back to a normal adventure-free life, would you?"

He frowned as he thought long and hard before answering. "Well…I love protecting people. And the worlds tend to need a lot of saving," he chuckled. I laughed with him. "But…I wouldn't mind slowing down either. If I knew everyone was safe."

I fell quiet again.

"Why do you ask?" Sora cocked his head at me.

"Oh…I don't know," I shrugged. "Just wondering."

He smiled. "You wouldn't go back, would you?"

I openly smiled now, too. "No, not really. It's just…all this adventure and excitement is amazing! And I know I'm actually making a difference to somebody."

Sora looked down at his shoes for a moment. Then, in a whisper, he said, "You were anyway."

I looked over at him. He looked straight into my eyes, face unwavering, and I could tell how heartfelt his words were. My eyes watered and I couldn't keep from smiling. All those years of wanting to play hero, wanting to be something else, when I already had what I wanted most.

"Thanks, Sora," I whispered as I closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around me and I took a deep breath. I was secure. I knew now, without a doubt, that no matter what happened tomorrow or next week or next year, I would always have people who loved me and cared about me. And I wouldn't give that up for anything.

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><p>When I slowly blinked awake, the morning sun penetrated my eyes. I squinted as I sat up straight and looked around. Sora and I were still on the Bailey wall. Evidently, we had both fallen asleep without meaning to. As I stretched and began to get up, Sora started waking up too.<p>

"Guess we fell asleep," I muttered, blushing slightly.

"Huh?" Sora yawned, still coming to his senses.

"It's already morning."

Sora looked around confusedly, probably forgetting how he even got there. Then after a moment, he scratched his head and stood up too. "Oh…yeah…I guess we should head to Merlin's then."

We both walked to Merlin's house, yawning and still waking up. Everyone was either conversing or working on something. A few people glanced up briefly as we entered. Seifer shot us a quizzical look. I fired back with the ask-and-you're-dead glare.

"So, Cid," Sora walked over to the computer. Cid was working furiously as usual. "How are things looking?"

I took a homemade orange juice that Tifa offered me as Cid addressed the whole group. "Alright, everyone. Mornin'. How ya doin'?"

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "No need for formalities, Cid. Just get to the point."

"Alright, alright!" He held up his hands defensively.

"Yuffie, chill out!" scolded Tifa.

"What? I'm just saying that we can skip the intro stuff!"

"He was asking how everyone is doing, my goodness!"

"That's OK," Cid shrugged. "If she doesn't care how everyone's doing, then neither do I."

"Cid!" Tifa groaned, becoming frustrated with the two's child-like behavior. Leon just covered his face and stayed out of it. I shook my head and just drank my orange juice. Finally, someone spoke up.

"ENOUGH!"

It was Roxas.

"I'm great, thank you! Now let's get to the point! No use arguing over the stupidest things…" he grumbled. Yuffie immediately shut up. Cid took a deep inhale and turned to his computer screen.

"OK, it seems the Heartless are all gathering in one spot. Strength in numbers, possible full-out invasion of the town, something like that. Unfortunately, their location is the old run-down castle way outside the outskirts of the city. It's quite a hike from here. If we're gonna get to them before they do any damage, we're gonna need to leave ASAP and we'll need lots of raw power."

"Uh, which is _us_! Duh!" Sora piped up.

"Yeah, we can handle them!" Kairi added.

"Even so, Seifer and Rai are going with you guys," explained Cid. "You're up against a lot here. There's a huge mass of dark energy in the heart of the castle. Could be their leader or something. Best to go prepared."

"You think it'll be worse than the Darkside?" wondered Riku.

"I wouldn't doubt it," came the reply.

"What about the rest of us?" Leon asked.

"Patrollin' the town," Cid decided. "Protectin' townsfolk from any Heartless that may be here already."

"Got it!" Yuffie nodded. Tifa already had her fighting gloves out and on. As I looked around, I could already see the fire in peoples' eyes. My excitement grew as I sensed the new and intense dangers ahead. Just as we were readying to deport, Merlin warped into the room. We all watched and waited curiously, knowing he wouldn't just stop by for no reason.

"Aah, hello, um…I have some bad news," he began. "It seems Twilight Town has had a large Heartless infestation, as well."

There was an air of surprise throughout the room, but Roxas, Seifer, and Rai became the most urgent. "I was just speaking with Hayner," Merlin continued. "He, uh, would like help right away."

We looked among each other, silently asking the question of who was going. Roxas looked down in defeat, unable to win with either decision. "Guys, I don't wanna just abandon you…but Hayner is a friend too and it's still kinda my home…"

"We'll go," Seifer suddenly stepped forward.

"It's our only home, y'know," added Rai. "and we'll keep everything under control."

Roxas nodded. "Thanks, guys."

"Don't get all sappy on us," Seifer mumbled. "You're gonna help too, you know."

"Of course," Roxas rolled his eyes.

"We'll come help to wipe them out once we deal with this world," I promised. Seifer nodded and he and Rai went with Merlin to go to Twilight Town. Riku, Kairi, Sora, Roxas, and I all stepped outside and headed toward the southwestern exit to the town. Far off in the distance, I could see our destination. The old dilapidated castle spires curled upward toward the sky, ominously watching the empty plains before them. The large dark Heartless symbol on the front was cracked and broken like a dying heart. As I looked at it, I suddenly had an odd sensation. A tremor or _wave_ almost, pulsed through my heart. I quickly looked away, troubled. I told myself it was just the usual 'hero high', adrenaline and nerves and all that stuff, but this was different. It felt…_dark_ somehow. I shivered and tried to forget about it.

"Something wrong?" Roxas glanced over at me. I looked at him, then down at my feet. "No, I…I'm fine," I managed. As we kept walking, I cautiously stole a sideways glance at the castle again. The scariest part was that I figured out the name of the feeling I had had a second ago.

Premonitions.

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><p>hello, all! sorry about the wait on this chapter, i meant to get it up sooner ^.^' anyway, i hope you like it so far! There's major stuff coming up in the next couple chapters. It'll blow your mind X) thanks soooo much to everyone reading and reviewing this! the support means a lot, it really does :)<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Alright, well I thought I had already posted chapter 3...apparently I didn't XD so sorry for the wait. Here it is though! Thanks for your patience!

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><p>We walked in silence most of the way. The world was pretty calm too. We didn't see a single Heartless the whole way. I figured they'd all be hiding out in the castle. After awhile, we arrived at the hollow bastion. We all stopped simultaneously, staring up at it towering before us.<p>

"Ready, guys?" asked Sora.

I took a deep breath. "Ready."

We pushed open the large door. It let out a low moaning creak as it slowly swung open, allowing sunlight to pour in through the opening. The bang of the door as it opened all the way echoed endlessly upward through the open halls. We all waited, staring into the dark space where the light couldn't reach.

"Well…let's go," Riku ordered, taking the first step in. The rest of us followed. The eerie silence underlying our footsteps set my nerves on edge. I began to feel slight paranoia and my hand tensed at my side, ready to draw my sword at a moment's notice. I rolled my eyes at myself and tried to calm down. Why was I so uptight all of a sudden? What was it about this place that was so unsettling?

"Hey, do you guys…sense something?" I stopped walking.

"What do you mean?" Sora turned. The rest of the group stopped, too.

"Well, the farther in we go, the…_darker_ I feel," I explained. I didn't know how else to put it.

"Yeah," Riku nodded. "I feel it too. It was really faint on the way here but now it's a strong feeling."

"What does it mean?" Kairi wondered.

"That we need to be on guard. There's a great darkness here."

"It is pretty spooky in here…" Kairi looked around anxiously. I started to walk again, taking lead of the group.

"Let's keep moving," I instructed. Everyone began to hike along again. Soon, we reached an open part of the castle where all the walls and ceiling had crumbled away. The sun brightly shone through the stronghold, helping to lift the uneasy atmosphere of the previous towers. We continued until we came to the main entrance of the central tower. Riku and Sora both stepped forward to open the enormous double doors.

Once we were inside, Sora steeped away from the group, looking around at the empty dilapidating room. Roxas walked up behind him. "Brings back memories, huh?"

"Yeah," the boy nodded. "Can't say they're good ones though."

"You've been here?" questioned Kairi.

"Yeah," Sora turned around. "Roxas and I, when we saved the worlds the first time, this is one of the places we came. The last place we came. It's where all the Heartless were coming from."

"Are we close to the heart of the castle?" I asked.

"It should be this way," Roxas told us, heading toward an opening in the wall. We all followed him. We steeped through to find a dead end, the floor completely ending and crumbling into nothing.

"Woah! Look out!" warned Sora, stopping at the edge.

"Well, I guess we have to take the long way," Roxas decided.

"Man, this whole place is falling apart…" Riku noted. "We better be careful."

We ended up having to take a series of staircases up through the castle. If Roxas and Sora didn't know their way around, we would probably have gotten lost. It was an enormous building and I would've loved to see it in its completely untouched state. However, even with its current status, it was still quite beautiful. It was dark, eerie, and creepy, but you could overlook almost the entire world from in there.

"We're almost there," Roxas said as we carried on along the outside of the tower. Sora had been quiet ever since we first came in. I kept worriedly glancing over at him and he was always looking down at the ground or off into the distance. Soon, we came to a long, narrow, dark hallway leading into the castle once again. Sora took a deep breath. Roxas paused before turning to face the group. "This is the last room before we reach the center of the whole castle."

Riku nodded. "I can feel something really dark ahead." He began to walk down the hallway, followed by Kairi and a silent Sora.

"Is Sora OK?" I quietly asked Roxas. We both started to head in to join the others.

"Yeah, it's just hard to come back here," Roxas explained grimly. "Remembering what happened here is tough. The room we're about to enter is the place where Sora lost his heart. And where Vanitas was born." I shuddered when I heard his name. "Y'know, when Sora came back after regaining the light in his heart, he was never quite the same."

I frowned. "What do you mean?" Roxas stopped walking. I did too, waiting for him to explain.

"Well…you do know what happened, right?" he asked.

"Sora lost his heart. He gave it up to seal the darkness away…"

"Do you know how?"

"How what?"

"How he gave his heart up?"

"Uh…" I really had no idea. I had never really thought about it, but from the way he said it, I suddenly didn't want to know.

"He stabbed himself, Katie." My heart stopped beating. "He had to drive the Keyblade through his own heart."

I swallowed hard. "That's when Vanitas came," Roxas continued. "I had to fight him. In that very room. Afterward, I thought he was defeated, gone for good. But I guess…that's when the transfer happened. When his darkness became a part of _my_ heart."

"But then…then what? If you saved the world from darkness, then how did Sora come back?" I was wrapped up in thought. I had never heard what actually happened on that first adventure, not the whole story.

"I had to dive into the darkness before it consumed the rest of his heart. The seal had already started to close and I didn't know if I'd make it out…" His eyes had become distant. "That first adventure was rough. Darkness almost won over light. I've never been so scared…So many innocent lives were lost. Sora and I both nearly died, too."

I hesitated, unsure if I should stay on the same subject. "But after all that…you still kept going on missions."

He looked over at me. "The worlds needed us. And the Keyblade didn't choose us for no reason. _Someone_ has to protect people."

I suddenly felt selfish. Roxas and Sora had risked their lives numerous times and had given up their ordinary lives on the island just to protect the worlds. And here I was, soaking up all the action like this whole thing was for fun. And I doubt I'd have the courage to die for the good of people I didn't even know. Defending them was one thing, but sacrificing everything for them? I didn't know if I could do that. How could I even call myself a hero?

"I'm sorry, Roxas," I looked down in shame. "I…I never really-"

"No, it's fine," he held his hand up. "It's all in the past."

We started walking again until the corridor widened into a large series of arches up to the ceiling, opening even more into a large, empty, circular room. It was quiet. No one spoke as we walked up. We joined the others. Sora was staring at the center of the room, right in the middle of the circle. I suddenly realized that was the exact spot where it had happened. We were standing in the exact spot where Vanitas was born. My heart started beating faster as if it could sense the dark occurrences that still lingered as memories there. Sora inhaled deeply and looked around the room.

"It's exactly the same," he noted. "Nothing has changed."

"Nothing will," Roxas added.

I took a step forward, gesturing toward a green fiery portal of sorts. "And lemme guess, that's how we get to the heart of the castle."

"Bingo," Sora grinned, reverting back to his old self. "The swirling fire-hole of death!"

I chuckled in relief at the lighter mood. "Well, then I can't wait to go!" I joked. We all quietly laughed, but as it died out, the same eerie silence from before set back in.

"Man, something about this place just gives me the creeps," I rubbed my arm in discomfort.

"Maybe it's the creeps who are in it," Riku smirked.

"Riku!" Kairi cried out, holding in laughter.

"That includes you!" I pointed out.

"He's the biggest creep here," Roxas laughed.

"Hey, it was a joke!" Riku defended himself, but he was chuckling too.

"I know, that was too," Roxas replied, grinning. "We all know Katie is the biggest creep here."

I socked him in the arm. Everyone softly laughed but it was uneasy laughter. I could tell we were just stalling now. I was uneasy too, but we were wasting time.

"Alright, let's go," I commanded, stepping toward the fiery hole. "Whatever's in there, we can handle it." I took a deep breath and drew my sword. Sora stepped up beside me.

"You nervous?"

"No!" I stated firmly. He raised his eyebrows. I sighed. "OK, maybe a little."

He smiled. "Why? You're a natural at this. You do this stuff all the time."

"I guess so…I don't know why. I think the place is just getting to me."

"Well, don't worry about it," Riku walked up. "After all, whatever is in there…we can handle it."

He grinned. I smiled and nodded in reassurance. Then, together, we all stepped forward and let the flames consume us.

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><p>Get ready for the intensity :D the next chapter should be up pretty soon!<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

Hello all! Thanks for continuing to read, the plot really takes a twist here :D And i finally got a deviantArt account! (woohoo!) I have a picture posted of a Terror, which were the creatures from Falling Stars. Unfortunately, Fanfic is being stupid and won't let me post the link XP I'll try to figure it out later.

And now, without furthur ado, here's chapter 4!

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><p>When we arrived on the other side of the odd gateway, we were in a vast open room, circular like the other one but much, much larger. The ceiling had a huge gaping hole that a brilliant beam of sunlight was shining through, illuminating the entire area. I eased out of my tense stance, reassured by the calm feel of the room, but that twinge of darkness in my heart never went away.<p>

"…There's nothing here," Kairi blinked in confusion.

"Yes there is," Roxas gripped his Kingdom Key.

"You feel it too?" asked Riku. Before anyone else could say anything, a thick cloud of dark fog condensed in the center of the room and slowly formed into a giant monster. As it cleared and we could see the Heartless we were up against, we froze. It was _huge_. It walked on four enormous clawed feet and had long red curled tusks growing from its powerful jaw up over its head like horns. Its black body was thick and muscular with yellow flame patterns running down its back and up its legs. Between its tusks was a sharp but short, blue horn. Beneath that, its yellow eyes gleamed ominously.

"What_ is_ that thing?" cried Sora.

"I don't know!" Riku gritted his teeth. I hung back with the others for a moment, but the adrenaline became too much. I charged forward, sword glowing strongly. The monster roared as I ran right for it. I jumped and slashed at its arm, but it barely left a scratch. I landed and quickly had to leap out of the way of its foot as it stomped down at me. The others had sprung into action too, Sora, Riku, and Roxas following me in hacking at its feet, while Kairi supported from the side with magic.

"We're hardly hurting it!" Roxas realized.

I narrowly rolled away from another foot stomp. "It's too strong! Our weapons aren't doing anything!"

"I can't do much either!" called Kairi, shooting Fira after Fira at the Heartless' face. It suddenly reared its head back and let out a loud but incredibly low bellow. A flurry of huge lightning bolts immediately stormed the whole room. One connected directly with me and I felt a surge of electricity shoot through my body. I fell to my knees, panting.

"Katie!" Kairi had been hit too, but managed to hold out her hand and conjure up a Cure spell. Feeling rejuvenated again, I immediately leapt into battle once more. I ran and hurled my outstretched arm toward the Heartless' side to drive it through with my sword. I landed the hit but the creature's skin was tough. The sword barely penetrated it. The monster roared out of annoyance rather than pain. I growled inwardly. _It's no use…_I realized. _I'm not strong enough to hurt it._

Sora hopped onto the creature's massive foot as it took a step. Jumping again once its foot was raised in the air, he managed to get up on top of the Heartless' back. He raised his Keyblade above his head. With a loud cry, he thrust it downward with all his might. It pierced right into the monster's back. The creature let out a deafening cry. We all cringed. It turned around angrily as Sora leapt off and ran from its furious stomping. It seemed he had escaped being crushed, but the Heartless then swept its foot across the room, smashing Sora in the back. He yelled in pain as he was thrown forward and the wind was knocked out of him. Kairi gathered her energy and Cured him as I angrily prepared to attack again.

Rushing forward, I ran underneath the Heartless and jabbed upward. I stabbed its chest and it reared back. I dodged the incoming feet as they crashed back to the ground and I stabbed again. This time, I hit its abdomen. The monster began to go wild.

"She's in trouble!" Riku called.

"Katie!" Roxas charged forward. I tried to continue injuring it, but it was moving too much. I suddenly realized I was going to be crushed. Its claws crashed all around me and I couldn't find a clear exit. I whipped around frantically, looking for an opening I could escape through. Just then, another foot lifted up, this one directly above me. I froze in realization. As it shot downward and I cringed, Roxas dove. We landed a few feet away as the Heartless' foot smashed right next to us. Then it looked down at us with its golden penetrating eyes.

"Back off!" Kairi yelled angrily, casting Thunder. The bolts rained down and the Heartless roared from the impact. I looked up in surprise. That had hurt it!

"Kairi, that hurt it!" I yelled. The monster growled and shot its own thunderbolts back. Sora guarded Kairi and himself while Roxas and I braced ourselves, unable to guard in time. Riku managed to duck and weave through the electric minefield, headed straight for the enemy. His blade became shrouded in blue static and he made a diving slice into the creature's upper arm. It took almost no notice.

"_What?_" Riku stumbled back in shock. Recovering from the full-on blast, I staggered to my feet and locked onto my target. It wasn't the electricity that had hurt it. It was the horn. That was its weak point.

"Look out, Riku!" I yelled, running straight at him. He ducked as I jumped right over him and stuck my sword right into the foe's arm. I was about to hoist myself up, using the weapon as a grip and a ledge, but the Heartless cried out in pain and leapt the entire length of the room in one bound. Everyone gasped and I gripped onto the handle of my sword for dear life. The monster landed with a huge thud and I swung back and forth, struggling to hold onto the weapon. I felt my hands slip but I wasn't giving up now. Determined, I held on and fought to keep my hold. With much difficulty, I pulled myself up so I was hunched over, standing carefully on the part of the sword that protruded from the enemy. With a forceful leap, I made it up onto the beast's back. Calling my weapon back to my hand, I ran across its shoulder up onto its head. Steadying myself, I took a determined breath and felt my sword glow brilliantly. I raised it over my head, let out an enormous war cry, and brought it down with every inch of my strength. I felt the creature's horn crumble away under my blade and a blinding light shot out of the weapon so brightly that everyone shielded their eyes. The Heartless howled in misery and reared sharply backward, flinging me violently through the air. It continued to roar and squirm as the light consumed it and tore it apart. Soon, it was obliterated completely. I landed painfully on the ground, across the room from everyone else. Moaning, I pushed myself to my hands and knees. Sora was about to run over to me when there was a low rumbling noise throughout the castle.

"What was that?" asked Riku, looking around. We all froze, waiting, listening for anything else. A tremor pulsed through the castle, vibrating the whole room. We all snapped into focus. It went silent for another few seconds. Suddenly, there was a huge CRACK! and the floor in the middle of the room split. Everyone gave a quick yell of surprise as the entire area shook. Struggling to stand on the shifting terrain, I looked toward the widening gap through the center of the space and gasped. Inside was a seething abyss of endless Heartless. Thousands, or even tens of thousands of them, brimmed to the surface like an ocean. Our jaws all dropped. There was no way we could take them all out. Not by ourselves. The ground shook again and the floor continued to fall apart, this time starting to crumble away completely.

"We've gotta get outta here!" Riku yelled.

"Katie! C'mon!" Sora screamed over the chaos. I ran toward the group. The crack in the floor kept widening, growing more and more as I approached it. I picked up my speed, gaining momentum for the jump. The ceiling slowly began to fall apart, sending down large pieces of stone that I had to avoid. The chasm started to look too wide, but I didn't let it slow me down. I sprinted and, at the last moment, pushed off the edge of the floor with all my might. I flew through the air, trying not to look down. Sora stood on the very edge of the other side, arm outstretched toward me. I reached back as far as I could, smiling in relief that he was there to help. My smile quickly faded as I began to fall. I hadn't jumped far enough. I wasn't going to make it. Sora's eyes widened in horror and he tried to reach farther, but it wasn't enough. Our fingertips brushed against each other before I plummeted downward into the darkness.

"NOOOOO!" I screamed in terror as I tumbled away from the light.

"KAAAATTTIIIEEE!"

Within seconds, their voices died out completely and I was alone, falling into fear. I flailed about, trying to find something to grab onto, but there was nothing. My heart pounded in my chest. Suddenly, a dark tendril shot out at me as I plummeted downward. It raked at me and I screamed in agony as its claws plunged straight through me. My consciousness slowly slipped away as the shadows muffled my cries. I couldn't sort out pain from fear from thought anymore. My eyes slipped closed, and then, I was lost to the darkness.

* * *

><p>Sora was frozen in shock as he stared down into the sea of shadows. Huge blocks of the castle fell from above, landing around him.<p>

"This whole place is falling apart!" Riku called. "We gotta get out of here!"

Roxas drew his Kingdom Key again and faced the pit of darkness. "I'm going in! You guys get yourselves to safety!"

"Roxas, that's crazy! There's too many of them! And this place will collapse before you can get to her!"

"I dove into the dark and came back alive once! I'm not giving up!"

Sora snapped out of his state of shock. "I'm coming with!" He called his own Keyblade into his hand and prepared to dive into the sea of Heartless too. Riku opened his mouth to protest, but they were already stepping forward to jump.

"GUYS, LOOK OUT!" Kairi screamed. Just then, nearly half the ceiling fell down in one big chunk. It landed right in front of Sora and Roxas, crashing into the abyss and ripping apart all the Heartless that tried desperately to escape. It rolled downward into the darkness, destroying everything in its path and causing the floor to cave in, blocking entry into the pit. The entire room literally began to shatter underneath the group's feet.

"WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Riku screamed, grabbing Kairi's arm and leaping back through the fiery portal. Sora and Roxas turned from the pile of rock that was quickly falling away and ran. Roxas frantically clambered up the piece of floor underneath him that began to fall with the rest of the building. Sora leapt between fissures in the ground, heading for the gateway too. They both jumped as the room disintegrated behind them. When they were back on the other side, they were horrified to find that the entire castle was falling to pieces, not just the previous space.

"Watch out!" screamed Kairi, Reflecting away a large chunk of stone that fell toward them. They all ran through the building, completely on instinctual mode, as they leapt and dodged through the rubble. Dashing down the staircases and through dangerous pitfalls, the group finally made it safely to the ground below. They got a safe distance away from the castle before stopping to catch their breath. The tower completely collapsed behind them. They looked back as the stone caved in on itself and the once-mighty Hollow Bastion Castle fell to dust. The four of them all stood in silence, panting. They looked among each other, still taking in everything that just happened.

Suddenly, Roxas broke down and fell to his knees. He buried his face in his hands and sobbed uncontrollably. None of them had ever seen him cry before. Kairi knelt down beside him and hugged him, beginning to cry too. Riku joined the group huddle, trying to comfort his friends. His jaw was clenched tight as he fought to hold himself together. Sora stood at a distance, blankly staring at the remains of the castle. Eyes glazed over, he didn't speak, didn't cry, didn't feel. Half of his heart had been destroyed a year ago and the other half had just died with her. He was gone. Long gone.

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><p>Welp, I'm getting out of here before I get angrily mobbed XD Pray that I upload the next chapter before my vacation which will last until the end of summer...heeheehee...Jk I'll upload before then, but please do review XD if flaming is necessary, so be it. But please tell me what you did think of it. Thanks for the support as always :D<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

Hello again, faithful readers! :D I thank you all soooooo much for the support I'm getting on this story! It means a lot :') Sorry about that depressing and unsatisfying ending to chapter 4 but that's just how stories go XD Hope you enjoy!

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><p>The door to Merlin's house swung open and the group of heroes quietly trudged in. Cid leapt out of his chair. "Woohoo! You did it! They're gone completely! Radiant Garden is Heartless-free again!" His face dropped when they hardly even looked up. "Well, <em>somebody's <em>morale levels just hit rock bottom…"

"What's wrong?" Yuffie piped up. Then she looked around confusedly. "…Hey, where's Katie?"

No one answered. A sharp silence entered the room.

"You don't mean…?"

Still no reply.

"Oh no…"

Leon tensed up. "What the hell happened?" he demanded.

"The…the entire castle collapsed," Riku mumbled.

Leon and the others were shocked. "It just…fell over?" yelled Cid.

"I don't know, it might've been the Heartless," Riku continued. "There was an enormous Heartless that was stomping all over the place and that castle was old and falling apart anyway…I don't know."

"I…I'm so sorry," Yuffie whispered, though she knew nothing she said would make it better. Leon just closed his eyes and hung his head.

"Man…that's rough," Cid scratched the back of his head uneasily. "Losing innocent people that you can't protect is one thing but…a teammate…" He trailed off, sensing he was making it worse. Besides, she had been more than a teammate and he knew that.

"At least…at least she died a hero," Tifa weakly smiled. "That's what she always wanted, right?"

No one spoke. Cid and the others looked around uncomfortably. After a moment, Kairi broke the silence. "What do we do now?"

"We head to Twilight Town to help out," Roxas spoke up. "There's nothing else we _can _do."

"Hey, this is a lot to take in at once," Leon stepped toward them. "Maybe you should all just sit and-"

"No," Roxas cut him off. "They need us. We don't have any time to waste."

Yuffie replied, "Hey, we can go help Hayner and the others if you guys wanna take it easy."

Roxas shook his head. "No. We'll go." The rest of the group didn't say anything in protest. They mechanically turned to follow the solemn Roxas out of the room to go board the Gummi Ship. Yuffie opened her mouth to protest, but they were already out the door. Tifa worriedly watched them walk away.

"Sora didn't say anything that whole time. At all. He's usually so optimistic and talkative…"

Leon stepped up beside her and gravely watched them disappear around a corner. "When you lose someone that special to you, you're never the same again."

* * *

><p>I slowly blinked awake, my senses still out of focus. When I could mostly see clearly, I found myself lying on my stomach in a dark rocky tunnel. Confused, I pushed myself to a standing position and looked around. I grimaced as a low dull ache settled into my chest, particularly painfully right over my heart. Something else didn't feel right, though. I looked at my hands and nearly fell over in shock. They weren't hands at all. Panic sweeping over me, I looked my body over to find that I was bright purple with a short, thick tail and huge muscular talons for feet. Jagged wings took the place of my arms. My stomach was a creamy white color, blending into the purple skin around it. I was a Heartless.<p>

I stomped and flailed about, hyperventilating and screaming, but it came out as a distressed draconic roar. I was a Heartless! How could this be happening? I felt normal! I was thinking clearly, wasn't I? I could think like clearly like a human! WHY COULD I THINK CLEARLY?

_Whoa, easy there! _a voice rang in my head. I halted my mad freakout. _Just settle down. Lemme guess…you're a newborn._

I stood in complete perplexity, trying to keep from freaking out again. My mind was talking to me!

_Hey, over here,_ it said. Just then, a tall grey-armored Heartless walked over to me from the side. It had two glowing green eyes peeking out of its open helmet and sharp blue blades protruding from either arm instead of hands.

_Is…that thing speaking into my mind…? _I thought, feeling slightly disturbed.

_Hey, I'm not a thing! I'm a Heartless just like you!_ it protested. _And the name's Kaden._

"You…you just read my thoughts!" I cried, but all it sounded like was a series of obnoxious wails.

_Hey, I don't speak Wyvern,_ Kaden chuckled. _Heartless talk, please._

Heartless talk? I didn't know how to speak Heartless talk.

_Sure you do._

I jumped back in shock. _You're reading my thoughts! STOP THAT!_

_ Calm down! It's not really reading your thoughts! It's more like…sensing your thought process._

I stared dumbly. _Because that makes it _so _much more normal…_

_ It'll take some getting used to, the whole Heartless thing in general, _he said (or thought…?) _But basically, we communicate sorta like a big group mind. Our instincts are all kinda connected. _We_ can have more of a conversation because we're Halfbloods, but when you're with Purebloods or Emblems-_

_ Woah, woah! Hold on! _I stopped him. _We're _what?

_ Halfbloods. Meaning we still have half of our heart._

_ We…do? _So that's why I could still think and feel emotions. I couldn't believe my luck. _So, then what's a Pureblood and a…um…_

_ An Emblem? Well, _Kaden began. _Purebloods are the Heartless of people who gave in to darkness and were consumed by it. Their blood becomes pure darkness. Their light is snuffed out. Purebloods are the most mindless of all Heartless. It's really sad, actually…They're like enslaved zombies._

_ Emblem Heartless can be identified by the heart-shaped crest emblazoned somewhere on their body. They're the Heartless of those whose hearts were unwillingly taken by the darkness. They retain some level of higher thinking, but not much. They mostly can just strategize and work out problems in their head. They're still devoid of feeling just like Purebloods._

_ Halfbloods, though, we still have half our heart. So we keep our emotions. See how neither of us have the Heartless symbol on our body?_

I looked down to the spot where the large imprinted heart could usually be found. There was nothing there.

_That's how you can tell us apart from Emblems,_ Kaden explained. My head started to hurt from all the information I was being bombarded with. I looked around at the rocky walls of the cave-like area we were in, looking to change the subject to something less intellectual.

_So…where are we anyway?_

_ Well, um…I didn't catch your name, _he chuckled.

_Oh, sorry. I'm Katie, _I told him.

_Well, Katie, we're underneath the ruins of Hollow Bastion Castle. It just collapsed a few hours ago. Literally every Heartless in it was destroyed…_

Then I remembered everything that had happened. The battle, the falling, the claw that had torn through me to grab my heart…I shuddered. If that was only losing part of my heart, I couldn't even imagine the hell of having the entire thing ripped out.

Kaden must've sensed my distress. _You OK? _he asked.

_Yeah,_ I shook the thoughts away. _Um, what now? It looks like we're sorta stuck…_

_ Nah,_ he said with a grin. _Heartless can come and go as they please. We can travel through the Corridors of Darkness that connect each world._

_ OK…how do we do that?_

_ Like so, _he smirked. In a flash of darkness, he vanished. I stood there for a few moments, waiting, slowly realizing that my ticket out of here had just disappeared. Suddenly, he popped up right in front of me again, the same way he had teleported away a few seconds ago.

_Kidding! I'm not just gonna ditch you, _he laughed. _Here._ He held out one of his blades. I awkwardly stood there, staring at it.

_Grab onto it._

Yeah, I knew _what_ I was supposed to do. The 'how' was a little elusive. I sheepishly balanced on one foot while I reached out and gripped the blue sword with the other. In a flash, the scenery changed. We were in a tunnel of black and dark purple. There seemed to be no floor; we were standing on air. The walls soared past us as if the tunnel was moving, rather than us. I began to get dizzy as it twirled even faster around us, reaching breakneck speeds. Then, suddenly, we were in another world. All of that happened within a split second.

I shakily lowered my claw to the floor to steady myself. Still disoriented, I took a small, hesitant step forward and looked around. Something about the place seemed familiar.

_Well, you just took your first trip through the Corridors! You'll get used to transporting yourself. It'll just take some practice,_ Kaden rambled. _In no time, you'll be soaring through the worlds like a pro! Well, not just with the Corridors, I mean, you have wings too! I can't really teach you how to fly of course, since I have no experience with it but-_

I ignored him. I continued slowly walking through the brick archways. I knew I had been here before. Why couldn't I think of the name of the world? That's when I spotted a large 2 printed on the wall with an arrow next to it, pointing to the right.

_Something wrong? _he wondered, quitting his rant and running to catch up to me.

_ What world is this? _I asked, though I was pretty sure I already knew.

He leapt in front of me and, throwing his arms out for dramatic effect, he proclaimed, _Welcome to the Twilight Town subway tunnels, a.k.a the new Heartless Central!_

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><p>Well, there's chapter 5! Hope you liked it, although it seemed a little short to me...So yay! Katie isn't dead! XD Oh, but <strong>IMPORTANT NOTE: <strong>I will be on vacation until the very end of August after this! So therefore, I won't be able to post until then. But hopefully this will keep you satisified for a little while and I hope to see you all later :D


	6. Chapter 6

Hello everyone! As some of you may know, I'm back from vacation! For those of you who didn't...I'm back! XD So Supernova shall now continue, wahaha! When we last left off, Katie had just discovered she was a Heartless, a Wyvern to be exact, and she meets Kaden, a fellow Halfblood. Halfbloods are Heartless that still have half of their heart left and so they can think and reason like humans and they retain their former self. Kaden leads Katie to the Twilight Town subway tunnels and she discovers that this is the new spawning ground for Heartless. No wonder Hayner and company were in trouble! So, what will Katie do? What _can _she do? Let's find out!

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><p>Everywhere I looked, there were Heartless. Kaden and I wandered through the tunnels and I felt a sense of urgency building in me. Hayner and the others were in huge trouble. The Heartless were gathering right underneath their feet. If and when they decided to attack, Twilight Town would indefinitely be overrun. I had to warn everyone or stop the invasion somehow, but I didn't know what to do.<p>

_Hey, what's up?_ Kaden asked. _You seem uneasy about the Heartless here or something._

I quickly pushed the thoughts away. I hated that nothing was private anymore. _Why are all the Heartless gathering in one place? _I wondered, hoping to get more info.

_Well, it's strength in numbers._

Figures. _Are they planning on overtaking this world…?_

_ At some point, yes. For now, we're just laying low and slowly increasing our numbers._

_ Why though? _I protested. _What did the people up there do to them?_

_ Nothing,_ Kaden admitted. _I don't like hurting people either, but we have to increase our numbers somehow._

_But we don't! _I couldn't believe him. _The worlds don't need more Heartless! In fact, we could do with less of them! The Heartless should all die!_

I suddenly noticed that all of the Heartless around us were watching me. Some were even crouched to pounce. I realized that they could understand the basic idea of what I was saying. I immediately stopped thinking. Kaden was giving off worried vibes.

_Let's talk outside… _he thought quickly, stepping toward the exit. I nodded and timidly but quickly ran for the exit, following my fellow Halfblood out.

_You gotta be careful what you think in there, _Kaden told me once we were out of the subway tunnels. We now stood in the shadows of an alleyway of sorts. _You could've been mobbed just now and it wouldn't have ended well._

_ Sorry…_ I sweatdropped.

_It's alright,_ Kaden shook his head. _Just warning you. I know that we can seem like the bad guys but…we're trying to save everyone._

I actually became annoyed that we had come back to the same topic. _Kaden, stealing people's hearts and turning them into demons of darkness is not helping anyone!_

He sighed. _You don't know what's going on, do you? _Evidently, I didn't. _The worlds are in grave danger._

I growled, trying to keep from exploding at him. _Yeah, and that's _because _of the Heartless._

He exhaled and looked to the sky like I was hopeless. _The Heartless are trying to fix the imbalance of the universe._

My anger simmered out as my curiosity flared up. _The light is overtaking everything, _he continued. _Pretty soon, the darkness will be snuffed out completely. That'll overthrow the natural order of everything._

_ So…the Heartless are trying to create more of their kind…to bring back the darkness? _I confirmed.

Kaden nodded. _The Heartless can sense the imbalance and instinctually try to fix it. But we Halfbloods that can think on our own, well for me at least, I'm trying to fix this to save all the innocent people in these worlds. I'm no hero, but I'm gonna do what I can._

I suddenly felt guilty. _Sorry Kaden, I had no idea._

_ It's OK, I understand, _he replied. _I used to hold a hatred toward the Heartless too._

_ So how long has this been going on anyway? The light sweeping over everything?_

_ Well, only a year or two. A new Keyblade Master came into power and she's ruthless. She can cleanse a world of a Heartless infestation in hours. No one escapes her. I've gotten lucky twice but I was the only survivor out of hundreds._

_ So you mean that…she's so good at what she does that…the whole universe is becoming imbalanced?_

_ More or less, yes, _Kaden nodded. I gulped. She sounded frighteningly powerful and now that I was a Heartless, I was a potential target.

_Maybe it's the darkness' fault for this but I don't know, _Kaden looked down guiltily. _The darkness is greedy. It tries to take over everything. The light is just fighting back, just trying to protect people. The massive amounts of darkness rising caused the light to frantically search for new heroes but…now the opposite problem occurred. The darkness doesn't have enough warriors._

This was so messed up. The dark was always the bad guy to me. Now, though, the light was the problem we were facing. But it seemed the only way to drive it back was to let the darkness swallow it up. I couldn't let that happen…could I?

A loud yell in the distance broke my thoughts. _Sounds like trouble! _I called, running in the direction of the voices. Kaden moved after me in protest but I was already rounding the corner. When I arrived down in the Sandlot, I saw Hayner, Seifer, and Rai surrounded by Heartless. I wanted to be happy for seeing them again, but this was no time to celebrate. They were in danger.

A few Shadows lunged for Hayner while a group of Neoshadows went at Seifer and Rai. Hayner swung his club around, destroying two of the creatures. As the others pounced, he leapt in the air and struck them one by one as they came in at him. Meanwhile, Rai and Seifer were having trouble with the Neoshadows.

"Seifer! Rai" I called, running in to help. My cries sounded like rumbling growls, however, and Hayner quickly stepped in front of me, weapon drawn. I halted as he scowled angrily, ready to attack.

"No! Hayner, it's me!" I took a step back, but it was no use. He couldn't understand me. He yelled to get his adrenaline pumping, then jumped at me and clubbed me forcefully across the face. My head rang and I stumbled back dizzily. He came at me again, ready to beat me out of existence. He leapt high into the sky and lifted his club to bring it down on my head. Just then, Kaden shot up from behind me and swung one blade, knocking Hayner away. He landed and charged forward to attack Hayner, who was taken by surprise and frantically blocked the assault. Reorienting myself, I was horrified to find them fighting.

Seifer and Rai finished off the horde of Neoshadows around them and rushed to help Hayner. At that moment, a Keyblade flew out of nowhere. Kaden saw it just in time and leapt to the side, away from Hayner and the others. It whizzed past, mere inches from piercing his chest. Sora charged toward us, calling his Keyblade back and swinging at Kaden. _A Keyblade? _he cried as he defended himself. The Halfblood guarded with his blades in an X position, then struck back. The blows went back and forth while Roxas and the whole group appeared too, running over to the fight.

"Stop!" I yelled, but once again, no one could understand me. I didn't want anyone to get hurt.

"Help Sora! I got this one!" Roxas ordered, heading straight towards me. I felt my half-heart pound in fear and I started backing away.

"Roxas! Roxas, wait! It's me, Katie!"

He ran and jumped, slicing straight downward. I turned and dashed away, narrowly avoiding the gleaming weapon. My mind raced as I did. I couldn't fight back. There was no way I was going to hurt him. But…what if he killed me?

I saw the other battle out of the corner of my eye. Kaden was surrounded but he was avoiding most attacks. The others were striking relentlessly. He held his own, whipping his weapon-like limbs around to deflect multiple attacks at once. Sora jumped right for him. As he brought the Keyblade down, Kaden struck upwards, propelling him out of the huddle and onto the ground. Pitching himself above everyone else, he dove straight at Sora, blade poised to stab down through him.

I charged toward them with Roxas right behind. "KADEN, NO!" I wailed, throwing my bulky mass toward them. I bashed Kaden with my head and sent him flying backward into a wall where he clattered to the ground. Standing now between them, I flared my wings out as a blockade to stop either side from hurting the other. Roxas slowed his pursuit and joined the others, looking at me confusedly. Sora, who looked just as lost, got up from the ground.

_These are my friends, _I told Kaden. _Sorry…I was just trying to protect them. _He shook away the shock from the impact and looked up at me.

"Did…did that Heartless just save you?" Hayner blinked. Sora just stared at me with the same confused look. I slowly lowered my wings, relieved that the fighting was over. Roxas took a cautious step toward me. I didn't want to freak him out so I didn't move or try to say anything, because I knew that a moment's notice, he could draw his key and strike me down.

"He seems safe," Roxas noted. I perked up in disbelief. He? Kaden snickered behind me.

"That other one was tryin' to kill us though, y'know?" yelled Rai, raising one fist menacingly. Kaden slumped his shoulders in despair.

_Don't worry, I got this, _I assured him. I very carefully took a step toward Roxas. The group slightly tensed but I waited. When they relaxed again, I took another cautious step. After a prolonged anxious time, I finally reached the group. Roxas reached out and patted my head.

"Um, is anyone else really weirded out by this?" Riku asked.

"Yes," I said to myself, ducking away from Roxas' hand.

"Let's name him!" Kairi exclaimed.

"What?"Everyone turned to her.

"Well, he is gonna travel with us, right? I mean, he just saved Sora's life. We can't just kill him."

I growled. Her! You can't just kill _her!_

"Um, I guess so," Roxas scratched his head.

"What about that other one?" Seifer grumbled, referring to Kaden.

"He seems to have mellowed out," noted Kairi.

"Yeah, but for how long?" retorted Riku. "What if it turns vicious again? It is a Heartless after all. I say we just kill it right here."

I glared.

"I don't think that other one is gonna let us…" Hayner said uneasily.

"Alright, we'll take them both with us for now," Riku sighed. "But if either of them try to hurt any of us, don't hesitate to destroy them."

I rolled my eyes. _They aren't always like this, _I told Kaden. _I think they're just super cautious lately because of what happened to me. They don't want to lose anyone else. Because they probably think I'm dead right now…_ I closed my eyes in shame. _Sorry to let you down again, guys…_

_ Again? _Kaden looked at me slyly. _You mean something like this has happened before? Oh, there's a story behind this!_

I chuckled. _You have no idea. _

Before either of us could say anything else, Kairi proclaimed, "Let's name them! C'mon!"

"Kairi…" Riku facepalmed.

"What?" she yelled. "If they're gonna travel with us, we have to be able to refer to them somehow!"

"She does have a point…" Roxas admitted.

"Alright, alright," Riku growled.

"Aww, lighten up, Riku!" Hayner grinned. The teen just glared back.

"Hmm, let's see…" Kairi thought for a minute. "That armored one looks like a Rob!"

"Rob?" Seifer gaped. Kaden nearly dropped dead. I grinned in amusement.

"He doesn't really look like a Rob, Kairi," Hayner told her.

"How about Damon?" Riku suggested.

"I don't know…" Seifer was skeptical. "Not quite a Damon…"

"Slasher," Roxas cut in. Kaden perked up.

"That works, y'know," Rai agreed. Kaden seemed content. I glanced over at him.

_Good name?_

_ It sounds cool, _he smirked.

"What about that dragon one?" Kairi turned to me. They all cocked their heads and stared at me, searching for a fitting name. I shifted my feet, starting to feel self-concious. They frowned, all at a loss for anything. For the first time since the incident in the castle, Sora spoke.

"Ricky was my pet salamander when I was little," he mumbled. Everyone looked over at him, surprised at the break in his silence.

"That's so cute!" Kairi cheered. "Ricky it is!"

My eyes bulged out in disbelief. Kaden doubled over in a laughing fit. No sound physically came out, but he had his 'hands' over his stomach and was on the ground, shaking uncontrollably. To everyone else, he probably seemed to be having a seizure.

"Shut up," I growled at him. He continued to laugh. I kicked him, but then lost my balance and toppled over backwards since I wasn't used to my new self yet. This caused him to laugh even harder. I was frustrated but soon I joined him, laughing at my own stupidity. We sat there giggling as the others chatted.

"Where's Katie?" asked Hayner. I looked over at them when I heard my name come up. There was a silence among them and Riku quietly told them what happened. Everyone's faces grew solemn. Sora looked to the side, his mouth a tight line. My shoulders sagged. I hated seeing them so down. I was fine! I was right here! I wondered if I'd ever be able to let them know it was me. Was there a way? I couldn't think of one.

_Hey, we'll find a way, _Kaden tried to cheer me up. I glanced back at him.

_Thanks, Kaden, _I smiled.

"Well, let's all regroup by the Usual Spot and tell Merlin the situation here," Roxas decided. They all nodded and began to walk away. Kairi glanced over her shoulder as they headed away.

"C'mon, Slasher! C'mon, Ricky!"

Kaden looked over at me and started chuckling again. I rolled my eyes and began to follow the others. Kaden was close behind, still giggling.

_ You have weird friends._

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><p>So, there's chapter 6! Poor Katie...being dubbed Ricky after Sora's pet salamander must be an odd experience XD anyway, thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! :D Let me know what needs to be fixedimproved.


	7. Chapter 7

"So, you're saying this Heartless…saved your lives?"

Roxas nodded. Kaden and I stood at a short distance from the group. They were standing in a circle with Merlin, who had met us by the gummi ship. Leon and Yuffie were here too, but they were out patrolling the town for more Heartless. Kaden was afraid to lose more numbers since we needed all the darkness we could get, but they would most likely stay underground for awhile anyway. They were pretty safe.

Merlin looked over at us quizzically. Seifer crossed his arms. "That dragon one saved us. The other one was the one that tried to kill us."

Kaden rolled his eyes. _I get it, I get it. I'm sorry._

"Now he seems to have mellowed out, though," Merlin noted.

"Yeah," Riku joined. "It seems like the other one calmed it down or something. But why would it turn on its kind to help us? I mean, usually they're mindless and only focused on capturing hearts. Right?"

"Yes, it is rather odd," Merlin furrowed his brow in thought. He looked back over at Kaden and me.

"Maybe Cid will know something or at least be able to figure it out," Roxas suggested.

Merlin was still staring at us confusedly. "Are you sure they're Heartless?"

Everyone stopped dead. "Uh, hey gramps," Hayner started. "You can see, right? Look at 'em!"

"Well yes, they do seem rather, er, Heartless-ish…but I find it interesting that there's no emblem on their bodies."

I snorted. He was observant. The rest of my friends, as much as I loved them, were pretty oblivious. Kaden snickered at my comment.

"I…guess you're right," blinked Hayner. "You think it means something?"

_How can we explain it to them?_ I asked Kaden. _We can't talk._

_ I don't know, _he answered. _I don't think we can tell them in any way. There's no way for either of us to write it. And charades won't exactly work, _he joked.

"I don't know, but they've still gotta be Heartless," Seifer continued the conversation the others were having. "I mean, what else could they be?"

"Yeah, I've seen both types of those Heartless before," Roxas added.

"Well, I'll certainly look into it," Merlin finished. "Now, about the Heartless problem…"

_I thought the Heartless were laying low now, _I growled at Kaden.

_They are, Katie. But they need food. They have to come up sometimes and it's usually in groups, just for safety. You'll need some too, y'know. We can only go a few days without energy._

I paled when I realized what 'Heartless food' was. _No, uh-uh! I'm not taking anyone's heart!_

_ You don't exactly have a choice, _Kaden told me. _I don't like it either but it's you or them._

_ Maybe I'll just eat you,_ I grumbled. Kaden whipped around to face me with a horrified expression on his face. _Never mind, _I growled and looked the other way. At that moment, Leon and Yuffie approached the group. "Heeey!" Yuffie called, waving. They both got closer, then stopped when they saw us.

"Get down!" called Leon, rushing forward with his gunblade. I sweatdropped. _Bad, bad, bad! _I shoved Kaden to the side with one wing and jumped the other way. A bullet fired in between us, barely missing my tail.

"Stop!" Kairi held her hands up. "Leon, it's OK!" He paused for a moment, confused why she was stopping him. "They're on our side."

Leon's eyes bulged. "Our side? The Heartless?"

"These two are different!" she pleaded. "They don't hurt us!"

Leon's eye twitched and his mouth hung open. He looked to the others for confirmation.

"It's true," Roxas murmured.

"Yes, um, it appears these Heartless are somehow different than others," Merlin stammered. "We aren't sure why, but they seem to be fairly tame and harmless."

"Well….cool!" Yuffie exclaimed.

"Cool? This is _cool?_" Leon looked over at her. "We're siding with the enemy now!"

"Leon, it's not all Heartless," Kairi tried to explain. "Just these two. We've been destroying all the other Heartless we find."

Kaden tensed. _Katie, I think telling them who you are is the least of our worries right now. We have to find a way to explain what's going on. I know they're trying to help, but if they keep wiping out the darkness, the light will literally destroy the worlds._

_ You're right, _I admitted. _We'll find a way. I bet Cid can figure it out. He's pretty smart. _Kaden cocked his head at me. _He's another friend of ours._

"So…is Tifa back at Merlin's place helping Cid or what?" asked Hayner.

"Yeah," Riku nodded.

"Some of us can take them back to Cid and see if he figure anything out," suggested Leon. "I mean, about why these two are different."

"Sure, we'll go!" Yuffie exclaimed. "The rest of you can stay and keep the town safe."

"Alright," Roxas nodded.

"Go on, Ricky and Slasher! Go with Leon!" Kairi yelled.

Leon facepalmed. "She named them…?"

_Yes, and I want to crush her flat for it, _I grumbled. We both followed Yuffie and Leon toward the gummi ship.

Getting on board was…difficult. Kaden pointed out that we could just use the Corridors of Darkness, but I countered with the fact that we couldn't just randomly disappear. Plus, if we did get there first, Tifa would beat us up. Ouch. So, after much struggling, I squeezed through the entrance and we were off. The ride there was awkward, to say the least. No one talked, not out loud anyway, since only two of us were capable anyway. Kaden and I had some small conversations now and then, but Yuffie just happily sat, swinging her legs and humming to herself. Leon was tense as a tree. If we weren't trying to prove that we were innocent harmless creatures, I'd have shoved him off the ship and cracked up. Lighten up, Leon! Kaden laughed uncontrollably at that thought, probably since I included visuals.

I stood, staring out the window for awhile. I slouched over with a sigh. Leon whipped around, fists tightening around the wheel. I jumped back in surprise.

"Leon, calm down!" Yuffie scolded. "You're so uptight! The tiniest little movements shouldn't bug you!"

"It's just…you never know when they're gonna turn on you." He turned back around to face the front.

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "If they haven't done anything yet, I don't think they're going to."

Oh, I might if he doesn't mellow out soon.

Kaden laughed. _Do you even like this guy?_

I sighed in understanding. _Yeah…I do. He seems pretty heartless sometimes, no pun intended, but…he's been through a lot. You'll learn to like him. You just have to be patient with him._

_ Well, you sure picked a motley group of friends to hang out with, but I can tell nothing gets boring with you guys._

_ You better believe it, _I grinned. I glanced out the window. _Oh, we're here._

The gummi ship lowered toward the world. We landed in the large empty area near Merlin's house made specifically for gummi ships. We got off and started walking through the town. Leon walked behind us, closely watching us. Kaden was scared silly. I was just annoyed. When we reached Merlin's, Yuffie knocked and yelled in, "It's us! Don't freak when I open the door, OK?"

"…Why would we freak out?" came Cid's reply.

"Just don't, alright?" She pushed the door open. Kaden warily followed her in and I stooped over to fit through the doorway. Tifa froze in horror. Cid turned around and his eyes nearly fell out. "YUFFIE, WHAT THE-?"

"I said don't freak out!" she whined.

"YOU'RE BRINGIN' HEARTLESS INTO OUR MEETING SPOT! HOW CAN I NOT FREAK OUT?"

"They won't hurt you!" she yelled over him.

"Yuffie, have you lost your mind?" Tifa was still frozen in shock.

Leon stepped out from behind us now. "It's alright." The room fell silent. "We found these two Heartless in Twilight Town. They're somehow different than the others. They don't try to attack us. We need you to figure out why."

"Huh, well whadda ya know," Cid scratched his head. "I'll see what I can do."

"But…why wouldn't they?" wondered Tifa.

"Who knows?" shrugged Yuffie. "We did name them, though. This is Slasher and Ricky!"

"Uh…nice to meet you?" laughed Tifa, jokingly holding her hand out. I took her hand in my large clawed foot and shook it. Kaden used his sword arm to shake her hand afterward too.

"Oh! Well, for Heartless, they sure are polite!" She started laughing again. Yuffie joined her. Cid and Leon just shook their heads.

_Kaden? Polite? Yeah right! _I teased. _That was such a half-hearted greeting!_

It took him a moment to get the joke, but then he burst out laughing. I did too. You know, for a creature with only half a heart, I was pretty happy. Like everything would work out somehow. That was before I found out the truth about Halfbloods.

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><p>Ooh, suspense! I just can't give my characters a happy little break, can I? XD Hope those of you still reading are still enjoying this :) Please review because I haven't been getting any and it makes me feel like no one cares about this story X'( but thanks for the support as always! Ciao!<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

Hello again everyone! It's been awhile...I apologize. I was unofficially on hiatus but I'm trying to get back into Fanfiction. We'll see how that goes.

Anyway, in case you forgot what happened last, Katie and Kaden were brought to Hollow Bastion to see if Cid could figure out why they were different from other Heartless. That was actually all that happened last chapter XD And it ended with Katie saying that she was fairly happy until she found out the truth about Halfbloods...

So now we move to chapter 8! Here we go!

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><p>Kaden and I had been chatting and the topic just kinda came up. It had been a few days and we were stuck in Hollow Bastion so Cid could figure out why we were different than the other Heartless. The others were working on boring stuff, so Kaden and I sat out on the Bailey.<p>

_So, I wonder what our cool powers are. What if I got, like, laser vision or something? _Kaden speculated excitedly.

_What are you talking about? _I gave a small laugh.

_Our powers! Halfbloods usually have awesome abilities that other Heartless don't._

_ Really? _I cocked my head. _I didn't know that. Sweet!_

_ Yeah, that's partly why the darkness is creating them. It's added strength._

_ Wait…creating them? _I had thought it was sheer dumb luck that I made it through that hellhole with half a heart left. _You mean the darkness is purposely leaving half a heart behind?_

_ Yeah, _Kaden nodded. _I think it's hoping the extra darkness can overwhelm the light and restore order again. If it can take the light out of enough people' hearts, it should all balance out again-_

_ What? _I jumped up. _Take the light…? Oh no…_

_ What? What's wrong?_

_ We only have the dark side of our heart left. _It was more of a statement than a confirming question, but he answered anyway.

_Yeah, we do. I'm sorry…I guess I figured you realized that already…_

_ No. I didn't. _I started backing away. _This can't be happening…_

_ Katie, what's wrong? It's not a big deal._

_ As if _looking _like a monster weren't enough, now I _am _one! _

Kaden became concerned. _Katie, your darkness is where your humanity lies. Losing it is just as bad as losing the light. It's a balance like everything else._

_ No…Now I'm everything I never wanted to be. I'm all the bad that's left over! I can't do this. _I turned and ran.

_Katie, wait! _he called after me, but I didn't stop. I didn't even know where I was going. I just ran. I didn't slow down until I reached the outskirts of town where no one ever came. Panting, I slouched my shoulders and trudged aimlessly across the hard ground. I felt like crap. I felt like all the happiness and light inside me was snuffed out. Probably because it was.

There was no chance for me now. Even if I did survive this wave of light, could I find a way to become human again? And if I did, how could I face everyone? How could I face Sora if he had seen me like this? If he knew that I was just a child of darkness now with a twisted shattered heart, would he still love me? Could he?

I stopped walking in an open area with a square tiled floor. Pipes snaked up the canyon walls around me. I sighed and looked down at the ground. A rat scurried in front of me, squeaking quietly. As it passed in front of me, I slammed my foot down and grabbed it in my claws. I grimaced as its body fell limp with a dying whimper. A tiny pink heart floated out of it and entered my chest. "Sorry," I whispered as its frail being dissipated. I had been feeding off of animal hearts. Kaden worried that it wouldn't be enough to keep me going and I had been feeling slightly drained lately, but I'd rather die than steal anyone's heart. I didn't know how long I'd survive. I couldn't live forever as a Heartless. I just wished there was a way out of this trap I was in.

At that moment, I heard rocks shifting on the ground. My instincts flared and my head shot up. A pair of large eyes met mine, their owner peeking out from around a corner. As soon as the creature saw that I had noticed it, it whipped around the corner and charged.

It was similar to me in that it had two clawed feet and large wings on its upper body. It was draconic in appearance too, but it was pure white in color and had two feathery horn-like structures on its head. A swirled blue heart symbol was printed on its chest.

I stumbled backward as the creature leapt and flared its wings menacingly. Scrambling to my feet, I exploded in the other direction. My heart was going crazy as I sprinted through the narrow valleys in the rocks, hitting walls as my momentum swung me widely around the corners. The monster was never far behind me. The mad chase continued for quite awhile until I reached the open area where Leon and I had had our magic duel. I was slowing down. I could feel the weakness setting in. Coughing and stumbling from exhaustion, I fell forward onto my stomach, breathing heavily. I had no energy left. I heard the white creature dashing toward me from behind. _Kaden! _I called out weakly. _Someone…! Help…_

The dragon screeched and I saw its shadow over me as it pounced with claws ready. At that moment, Kaden appeared on the other side of the circular rink. _Katie! _he cried, jumping at the monster and swinging his swords. It yelled in surprise and flapped its wings backward, recoiling away from the attack. Kaden landed and stood defensively in front of me, glaring coldly at my assailant. The dragon landed and crouched over, hissing competitively.

Kaden swung both blades through the air to deter his foe, creating a sharp _whoosh!_ that sliced through the tension. The creature let out an angry, high-pitched roar. Kaden jumped and jabbed one arm forward. The winged enemy stepped to the side to avoid it, but received a small gash through the stomach. Kaden followed by twisting around to hit with his other blade. His foe beat its wings down forcefully, hovering up over the strike. Swooping down, it lashed out with its feet and kicked Kaden over. He quickly recovered and prepared himself as it dove again. It had its talons ready to rip him apart. He put his blades up in an X and the claws clanked loudly against them. Pushing its feet away, Kaden swung upward and slashed the monster's underbelly. Howling, it began to fly away, looking back resentfully. After it had retreated, Kaden came and knelt beside me. _Hey, you OK? _he asked worriedly.

My vision started to go blurry. _I…don't know… _My body felt like a dead weight. I had no will to move. My eyelids began to droop.

_Katie!_

I blacked out.

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><p>I awoke in the corner of Merlin's house. My senses sharpened almost immediately upon opening my eyes. Kaden, Leon, and Yuffie stood over me. I felt completely fine, full of strength and life. In fact, I felt exceptionally well.<p>

"He's awake!" Yuffie noted.

"So all it took was a heart," Leon growled. "Maybe we should've just let it die."

"Hey, look on the bright side! If he was dying of starvation or whatever, that means he wasn't stealing hearts before!"

"Or he wouldn't," Cid turned from his computer.

Starvation? Dying? Is that why I passed out? Kaden did say I'd slowly lose strength if I didn't feed off of human hearts. But I was awake now and from what they had just been saying…

_Yeah, I had to go hunt down some hearts for you, _Kaden mumbled. _It was the only way to keep you alive. Don't worry, I…tried to find people who were…dying anyway…_

_ It's OK. Thanks, Kaden. For everything._

_ No problem, _he smiled.

"Look," Cid started, addressing Leon and Yuffie, "I've been studying these two Heartless, their behaviors and interactions with each other and us and whatnot, and they definitely have some sort of consciousness. I mean that purplish one-"

"Ricky," Yuffie cut in.

"Whatever! _Ricky _refrained from stealing hearts and _Slasher_," he said mockingly, "saved his life? They've gotta have some higher level of thinking. Any other Heartless would just say to hell with it and keep themselves alive."

"So what does this mean?" demanded Leon.

"Hey, I can't know everything! I figured that much out, right? Gimme a break!"

"So you're saying they somehow have a conscience?" Yuffie wondered.

"I dunno, somethin' like that."

"But not all Heartless now are like that…are they?" Leon crossed his arms.

"Not as far as I can tell," Cid shrugged. "I'll keep lookin' into what's causing this, though."

Yuffie turned towards us. "If there are other Heartless like them out there though, is it right to kill them? I mean, they're like living creatures. Killing them would be wrong…wouldn't it?"

Leon closed his eyes. Neither him nor Cid answered. The brief silence was broken by the sound of the door opening. We all turned to see who it was.

"Hey guys," Roxas greeted weakly.

"Hey, what's up?" Cid turned around. "Everything OK?" Kaden and I walked over to the group as Roxas shut the door behind him and approached everyone.

"Just checking in on things," he replied. "Any lead on Ricky and Slasher yet?"

"Oh no, you're not callin' 'em that too, are ya?" Cid shook his head.

"Yeah…is something wrong with that?"

"Never mind. All we've figured so far is that they have some sort of conscience."

"So….they're not really…bad?" Roxas confirmed.

Cid sighed. "Well, that's a complicated question. They're still creatures of darkness. They still need hearts to survive. But y'know, Ricky wouldn't take hearts willingly. He passed out from exhaustion because he wouldn't kill anyone."

"Really?" Roxas looked over at me incredulously. I locked eyes with him, praying and pleading that somehow he'd recognize me. He casually turned back to Leon and the others like he had never met me.

"Maybe they should come back to Twilight Town for awhile," suggested Roxas. "Seeing how they respond to other Heartless might clue us in on some info."

"That's not a bad idea, kid," Cid flicked his nose with his thumb.

"Alright, we'll stay here and keep watching for Heartless attacks," Leon instructed. "I doubt they'll attack this world again, but better to be safe."

Roxas nodded. I took a step forward to follow Roxas out.

"Good luck! Check back soon!" Yuffie called as Roxas, Kaden, and I headed out the door. Roxas actually seemed pretty at ease as he walked with us to the gummi ship. He didn't seem like he was expecting us to attack him or anything. As I boarded the ship rather ungracefully again, I couldn't help but smile. I was going to see Sora again soon. He wouldn't know it was me, but he would be there. And I would find a way to cheer him up. I swore it.

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><p>So, it was slightly uneventful. I apologize. But it's all just to help the plot along. I hope you liked! Please review :) I hope to upload more soon! And hearing your predictions of what will happen next may be fun too ;D<p> 


	9. Chapter 9

Hello again, faithful readers! I really appreciate the support! Glad to see you're still reading this ;) Onto chapter 9 we go!

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><p>The group was still awkward. When we joined everyone, they were in the Usual Spot, taking a break from patrol. Everyone was pretty quiet, like no one knew what to talk about anymore. They looked up as we entered.<p>

"Well, you came back with the monsters, huh?" grunted Seifer.

_Shut up, Seifter, _I growled deeply.

Roxas jumped in front of me in case I lashed out. "OK, clearly they can understand us! So let's not provoke them, alright?"

I stepped back to show I meant no harm, but kept my glare on Seifer. He quickly covered his look of terror and leaned against the wall again. I smirked in amusement.

"So, I brought these two here again to study them more," explained Roxas. "Basically, we've found out so far that they can understand us talking and they have a conscience or something like it."

"How?" Kairi piped up.

Roxas shrugged. "No clue."

"So, I guess that's what we're trying to figure out then, huh?" Riku stood up.

"Uh, yeah, basically," Roxas scratched his head.

"How are we gonna do that?" asked Hayner. At that moment, I got an idea. I turned and ran from the outdoor area. Everyone leapt up in shock and followed me.

_Katie! Where are you going? _Kaden called as he struggled to catch up.

_They have to know, _was all I answered with. I ran for the entrance to the subway tunnels.

_What? Oh no! No, no, no! __Stop! _He sprinted behind me and leapt. He landed on my back and threw his blades in front of my throat. I yelled in surprise and swung my head around to hurl him off. Sora and the others stopped running and watched in confusion. I stood defensively in front of the subway entrance and glared at Kaden. He got up and stared back. I felt betrayed.

_Katie, I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-_

_ Forget it._

_ I'm sorry, I just…I know the town is in danger, but I want to help all the worlds and if your friends go in and wipe out all those Heartless, there may be no way to do that._

_ Kaden, I can't just sit around and let innocent people get hurt! Besides, if they don't know what's going on, this will never end. We can't fight this war alone!_

_ If they see what's down there without an explanation, they'll think the darkness is the problem, not the light!_

Riku drew his weapon and scowled at Kaden. Everyone else was tense too.

"What happened?" Seifer demanded. "What was that all about?"

"I don't know," Riku growled. "Seems like there's something in those tunnels that this guy doesn't want us to know about, though. You guys check it out and I'll keep an eye on this one…" He gripped his sword tighter, never breaking his gaze on Kaden.

Kaden stepped back fearfully. _What if he tries to kill me? Katie, let's just stop for a minute! With no way to communicate with everyone, no one knows what's happening and someone is going to get hurt!_

_ Look, they have to know. I can't keep secrets from my friends. We should still be in range of communicating with each other, though. If Riku tries to hurt you, just holler._

_ Katie, wait! _he called anxiously, but I ignored him and headed down into the tunnels. I could sense the uncertainty from the others as they descended behind me into the narrow hallway. We reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped. Hordes of Heartless waited all along the ground and throughout the halls. Everyone gasped and immediately drew their weapons. I faced them with my wings out defensively.

"Don't hurt them!" I roared, even though I knew they couldn't understand me. They needed to help us combat the light, and to do that, they had to know that the Heartless weren't after world domination again.

"This was all a trap! These Heartless set us up!" Seifer yelled with staff in hand as the Heartless in the tunnel greedily inched forward.

"No! Wait!" I yelled.

Just then, another noise was heard. All the Heartless' heads swiveled the other direction toward the second entrance. At that moment, there was an explosion of white and the Heartless began to run for their lives. There, coming toward us at rapid speeds, were mobs of white creatures with the blue heart insignia on them. My heart started pounding, the other Heartless' fears heightening my own.

_Katie, what's going on in there? _Kaden's voice rang in my head. _It's total chaos! I can sense it!_

_ It's them!_

_ What?_

_ It's those white monsters, like the one that attacked me!_

_ Get yourself out of there!_

I frantically whipped around to face everyone. They were all bracing themselves against the stampedes of Heartless rushing toward the exit.

"Everyone run!" screamed Roxas. They all bolted away alongside the Heartless and I followed, the monsters right behind. A small dog-like one with a large head nipped at my heels. I pushed myself to run faster. As we got outside, Riku turned around quickly, eyes bulging out of their sockets. The Heartless charged past him and disappeared to escape the assault.

"What happened?"

"RUN!" was the only answer he got. He raced the other direction with us and Kaden did too, glancing back in shock. The creatures slowed their pursuit on us.

_What are those? _Kaden cried as he ran.

_I don't know! _I replied. We ran around a corner and they seemed to stop following us. The group took a rest, panting and catching their breaths.

"What…what was that?" Roxas breathed heavily.

"Did you see how many Heartless were down there?" Kairi asked between raspy breaths.

"And what about those white things, y'know?"

"I've never seen anything like that," Seifer shook his head.

"I don't think that was a trap, though," Hayner pointed out. "Those Heartless looked even more afraid than we were."

"Yeah, so they couldn't have planned an attack from those other creatures, but don't you think they were leading us down there to become Heartless food?" Seifer asked. "Seems pretty logical to me."

Roxas cut in. "No. That wouldn't make sense. Why would Ricky save us just to lead us to our deaths? And why would Slasher have tried to kill us one day and tried to stop us from heading into danger the next? Something doesn't follow."

"They're Heartless. They don't have reasoning skills," Seifer grumbled so quietly that no one else heard him.

"So what are you saying then?" asked Riku.

"Well, it seems to me like Ricky wanted us to find all those Heartless down there," Roxas explained.

"Like it was warning us or something?" Riku became skeptical.

"But Slasher tried to stop him," Kairi pointed out.

"Well, that's true…" Roxas scratched his head. "So why would Ricky want us to know but Slasher wouldn't…?"

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Seifer exploded. "They're Heartless! Nothing they do has to make sense!"

Hayner glanced over with an irritated look. "So it's just coincidence that Slasher didn't want Ricky revealing the Heartless' hideout and endangering the whole species?"

"Who asked you, blondie?" Seifer leapt forward.

"STOP!" Roxas jumped between them, holding one hand either way to prevent a fight. Hayner and Seifer were both fuming, glaring across the distance between them. "Look, fighting isn't gonna help anything! None of us know what' s going on, but if we don't stick together, we'll never figure anything out!"

Hayner's jaw was still clenched tight but his shoulders relaxed. Seifer hesitantly unclenched his fists. The tension in the air slowly faded away.

"Alright," Riku broke the silence. "So the real question is: Why did Ricky want us to know?"

"Wrong!" an unknown voice echoed through the Sandlot. "The real question is…" A young woman with curly light-red hair leapt down from atop a building and landed perfectly on her feet. In one of her hands was a Keyblade. "…Why are you siding with the Heartless?"

Kaden suddenly became filled with fear. _That's her!_

Riku stepped forward, standing defensively in front of the group. "Who are you?"

"Answer me first." She stepped toward us.

"These Heartless aren't really Heartless…well, they're not like the others," he tried to explain. "They…er, they're…"

"They're human," Roxas cut in. He stepped in front of Riku. Everyone stared at him with wide-eyed expressions, including me and Kaden.

"Roxas, how do you know-"

"They remember being human or something like that," Roxas continued. "They can think and reason like us. It's like a human mind in a Heartless body. I don't know, that's all I can think of that would explain everything."

_He's..right, _Kaden was stunned. _Or pretty close to it._

_ And I thought Cid would have to be the one to figure it out…_

The red-headed girl furrowed her brow and gripped her key tighter. "That's nonsense. They're just monsters of darkness."

"Then why haven't they attacked you or us yet?" countered Roxas.

The woman gritted her teeth, searching for an answer. "It doesn't matter!" She held her key outward. "As the Keyblade Master, I demand you to step aside!"

Roxas instead took a step forward, drawing his key too. "As the Keyblade Master, I swear to stop you if you so much as lay a finger on them."

The woman took a surprised step backward, then became angry again. "A Keybearer protecting the Heartless? That's ridiculous!"

Roxas scowled. "These Heartless may be our only hope in winning this war."

"War?" The girl became interested.

"Against the Heartless."

"Hmm…then it appears we're on the same side." She skeptically sent her weapon away. "I've been wiping out Heartless world by world for quite some time now."

"Then maybe you can help?" Riku suggested. "We've got a Heartless problem around here. Well, we did…now they scattered. They could be anywhere."

The girl shook her head. "No, they fled for now, but they'll all regroup eventually. As they do, we can take them out and destroy the entire pack without having to fight them all at once."

"Wow, that sounds so easy!" Hayner exclaimed.

"It will be," she smirked. "By the way, I'm Melissa."

"Hayner," the blonde smiled, then introduced everyone else. "This is Riku, Roxas, Sora, Kairi, Seifer, Rai, and that's Slasher and Ricky!"

When he said our names, Melissa's welcoming smile faded. "Nice to meet you," she mumbled to us.

* * *

><p>Night fell as the sky slowly darkened. <em>She will kill us in our sleep, <em>Kaden shivered. _She will! I swear!_

"Well, we can stay at the Twilight Inn for tonight," decided Roxas.

"I can sleep outside with the Heartless," Riku offered. "Someone should keep an eye on them just in case, and besides, I don't think the innkeeper would take too kindly to us bringing Heartless inside…"

Kaden exhaled deeply. _Yes, we're safe! Thank you, Riku!_

I rolled my eyes. We all started to walk in the direction of the hotel when I noticed Sora wandering off a different way.

"Hey! Where you goin', Sora?" called Riku.

"I…need to be alone for awhile," he answered. Hayner was about to call after him, but Riku stopped him.

"He needs time to sort things out."

"Geez, what's his problem? Is he OK?" Melissa whispered to Kairi.

"Uh…we'll tell you later," she replied. They began to walk again. I didn't follow right away. I felt horrible. This was all my fault and I had promised I would make Sora feel better. I couldn't just let him wander all by himself, could I? But he did say he wanted time alone…

_Go for it,_ Kaden urged me. I turned around in surprise to find he was still waiting for me. _He looks completely grief-stricken and you obviously have stuff you need to resolve. Go comfort him, it's the right thing to do._

I smiled. _Thanks, Kaden. _Then I turned and raced after Sora.

* * *

><p>I found him alone, sitting on a railing above the streetcar tracks. I watched from around a corner, not sure if I should intervene or not. He sighed and looked up at the stars. It was silent for a moment before he started sobbing silently. My throat closed up and my heart began to ache. Sora…I didn't mean to hurt you…<p>

"Katie, I wish you were here," he whimpered. "I don't know what's happening or if everything will turn out OK, and you're not here to make everything seem fine like you always do. I…I wish…"

He looked up towards the sky again, tears rolling down his cheeks. A falling star shot through the darkness. "…I wish I could fly up there to be with you."

I slowly emerged from around the corner now and walked up to him. I nudged him gently in the back. He jolted up in surprise before looking back at me, quickly wiping away the water on his face. "Oh, Ricky, it's you."

I smiled and crouched over, gesturing toward my back. Sora smiled in understanding and climbed up, holding on tight. "Thanks, Ricky," he sniffed.

_Don't thank me yet, _I smirked to myself. _I've never flown before._

* * *

><p>So there's chapter 9! I apologize if it wasn't the greatest...life is really stressful right now and I'm basically on hiatus but I figured I'd try to keep updating this when I have time. Please tell me what you thought!<p> 


	10. Chapter 10

Yay! More Supernova! :D Luckily we have a little relief from the usual depressingness of the story XD enjoy!

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><p>I shifted my feet, finding a firm grounding to push off of. I looked heavenward, a determined fire burning in the pit of my stomach. I had no doubts. I was going to fly. I unfurled my wings. Even though it wasn't windy out, I could feel the air's smooth power rippling under them. My wyvern instincts took over my body completely. I coiled up, the anticipation threatening to tear me apart, and then I jumped.<p>

I beat my wings downward forcefully and launched myself straight upward. Sora yelled and gripped my neck tightly to avoid falling off. I roared triumphantly and whipped around in a tight loop-de-loop, leveling out to a smooth horizontal flight. Sora's hold relaxed. I glided gracefully over the town, staring at the buildings below. Twilight Town was so different at night. It was _beautiful. _I glanced back. Sora was looking down in awe. I smiled at the sensation of the air crawling across my skin and suspending me in the sky.

But then I got bored.

Tucking my wings in close to my body, I swooped steeply downward toward the village. Corkscrewing as I fell, I whipped my wings back out and caught us just before we hit the ground. Sora was screaming in fright the whole time. Flapping rapidly, I shot along ground level, soaring skyward again before we could hit any buildings. Slowly, Sora's terrified yells became joyous shouts.

"Woohoo! This is awesome!" He thrust his hands up in the air like a roller coaster. As I slowed to a more bearable speed, he cautiously stood up on my back and balanced as if on a skateboard. He let the wind current rush across him as he screamed, "YES! YEE-HAW!"

It was the first time I had seen him smile since I disappeared. For once, as a Heartless, I felt truly, genuinely happy. I hoped Sora did too. He was standing peacefully now, smiling up at the sky. Smirking, I slanted my wings and once again began a rapid dive. I laughed as Sora's eyes bulged and he literally dove to grab hold of me again. I skyrocketed toward the ground, gaining more and more speed. I didn't pull up.

"AAAH! Ricky, slow down! YOU'RE HEADED RIGHT FOR THE ROAD!" he screamed in terror.

_No, not quite… _I grinned, eying the crack in the wall. I arced at the last second, my belly mere inches from scraping the brick tracks, and shot through the hole that led to the woods. My instinct had complete control over me as I flapped and weaved around the thick, massive trees of the forest. I looked back at Sora. "Yes, I did it!" I roared.

Sora gulped as he looked straight ahead. I followed his gaze. I was headed right for the trunk of a giant tree. I yelled but was unable to stop in time.

SMACK!

I dizzily slid to the ground and toppled over. Sora flopped down onto the ground next to me, breathing quickly and heavily. We lay there for a few seconds, reorienting ourselves, until Sora began to chuckle. I looked over at him in disbelief as the sound quickly grew into loud laughter. Then I took into account everything that just happened and how stupid we must have looked. I burst into laughter with him. We lay there, in pain and in a fit of hilarity at the same time. Eventually, our laughter died down and Sora got up and brushed himself off.

"Well, we should probably head back."

I crouched over to let him get on my back again. As he jumped up, he glared jokingly. "Slowly this time."

_Alright, alright, _I chuckled. I silently ascended into the night once again, gliding softly and realizing I had no idea where the inn was. I slowly flew upward to scope out the area. I noticed that everyone was walking around outside. Frowning in confusion, I swooped down and landed by Riku and Kaden.

"Woah! Oh geez, there you are," Riku jumped in shock. "You said you were leaving but then Ricky was gone too and I just thought…I was just worried."

"No, I'm fine," Sora got down and slowly walked over.

_Katie, you flew! You really flew! _Kaden cheered enthusiastically.

_Yeah, _I grinned. _I guess I just needed to give it a try._

_ You'll have to give me a lift sometime, _he laughed.

_Sure thing._

"Hey, you OK, buddy?" Riku placed a hand on Sora's shoulder.

Sora shrugged away from it. "Yeah. Really, I'm fine."

Riku still looked concerned, but he let it drop. "Well, we should head back. All the others are out looking for you too."

Sora scratched his head. "It's not a big deal…"

"I know. Just better to be safe than sorry."

* * *

><p>We arrived back at the inn at the same time as Roxas. He went to go fetch everyone else while Sora ordered rooms and got settled for the night. Riku flopped out on the rocky ground, resting his head in his hands. Roxas came back with the group and they all filed into the hotel. Kairi stopped before entering.<p>

"You sure you wanna just sleep on the ground out here?" she asked.

"Eh, I'm fine. Gotta keep an eye on these two. Someone's gotta do it," he shrugged.

"You want me to get you a pillow or something?"

"Naw, I'm fine."

"OK…good night." She followed the others inside. That was the first time I realized it.

_Oh my gosh…they totally dig each other!_

_ Uh, duh! You just figured this out? _Kaden laughed. _And _how _long have you known them?_

I couldn't sit down now. _Wha-? No! Riku and Kairi? What?_

Riku saw me flailing around like a distressed fish. He picked up a small stone from the ground and tossed it. It bounced off my head. "Go to sleep, Ricky," he grumbled, closing his eyes. I tried to calm down as I curled up and laid my head down.

_Man, if you figured those two out that quickly, me and Sora must be pretty obvious…_

Kaden shot up. _Woah! You and Sora?_

I froze. _You didn't know that? Oh man, and now I just told you too! Ugh, I'm so stupid…_

He broke into a huge grin. _I'm just kidding, Katie. You two are as obvious as the 'less' in 'Heartless'. _

I glared jokingly at his banter and closed my eyes. He laid back and began to drift off to sleep too. I opened my eyes again. _Hey, Kaden?_

_ Hmm? _he managed tiredly.

_Did you ever have someone special?_

He paused for quite awhile until I thought he wasn't going to answer. But finally, he spoke softly. _Yeah, I did. A long time ago. Well, not that long really, but…it feels like forever. I can't say she loved me back but…I cared about her with all my heart._

_ Oh…I'm sorry…_

There was another moment of silence.

_That's how it happened._

I looked over at him, confused. _How what happened?_

_ How I became a Heartless._

My blood ran cold. _Kaden…_

_ I saved her. We were surrounded. I knew only one of us could get away._

I looked away, ashamed for all the times I had yelled at him or ignored him.

_I was alone when it happened, _he continued. _She ran and then they closed in. I've never felt so alone in my life…Sorry, I guess I figured telling someone would make it seem a little less lonely. _He rolled over onto his side so his back was facing me. I swallowed hard.

_I know how you feel…I've almost died twice. It's the scariest thing in the world._

_ …How did you survive?_

_ Well, the first time, Sora saved me. _I shuddered at the memory of Vanitas glowering down at me with his spine-tingling smile, Keyblade trained at my throat. _The second time…Sora tried to save me again but… _I didn't finish the sentence, but Kaden understood. _That's how it happened to me._

Kaden thought for a moment. _Well, I'm glad I was able to save Risa. I'd rather be a monster than let her become one. _After another minute of neither of us saying anything, Kaden's breathing slowed and I could tell he had fallen asleep. I smiled and laid my head back down, closing my eyes peacefully.

_ You're not a monster, Kaden. You're a good guy, even as a Heartless. _The sun had sunk far below the horizon and the sky was dark as the ocean. I started to slip off into the land of dreams. _Maybe the darkness isn't so bad after all…_

* * *

><p><em>Katie…Katie! <em>

"Huh?" I blinked my eyes open wearily, trying to focus my vision. When I finally did, I found Kaden standing in front of me.

_Here, take this. _He held one "arm" out towards me. He was holding a heart.

_What? _I shot up.

_Shh! Hurry, before anyone else wakes up! _I was going to protest, but he cut me off. _If anyone sees, we're in big trouble!_

I was hesitant, but I took it. I grimaced and looked away. I hated that this was how I had to survive.

_Sorry, _Kaden gulped. _I know you hate this, but I knew you wouldn't get any on your own so I had to do it._

_ I know, there's not much that can be done, _I sighed. _Thanks, Kaden._

Riku stirred at that point. He yawned and sat up, stretching. It wasn't long before Roxas came out of the inn. "Morning, Riku! Hey, Slasher and Ricky."

"Hey," Riku greeted. "Are the others up yet?"

"Yeah, I'm about to go get them," Roxas replied.

"What's our game plan for today?" asked Riku.

Roxas sighed. "I don't know. Everyone turns to me as the leader, but…"

"Roxas, you're a good leader. Everyone here trusts you with their life."

"But I have as little clue about what's going on as everyone else!"

"We know what's going on!" Cid cried from down the street.

"Cid?" Riku stood up, confused.

Yuffie and Cid ran down the street, heading over to our little group. Cid looked excited. "Whooo, it feels good to be free again! I haven't driven a gummi ship in months and _man, _I missed it!"

"Yeah," Yuffie chimed in cheerfully. "Leon suggested that Cid come this time since he kinda needs to get out more."

"Hey! I was doing all the putzy work! It was a worthy cause! I would've gotten out of there if I could."

"So, you guys figured out what's up with the Heartless?" Roxas pondered.

"Uh, yeah…it seems there aren't enough of them," Cid scratched his head.

"What?" Riku gaped. "There are more of them than we know what to do with!"

"Really?" Yuffie chirped. "Cid's computer showed extremely low readings across the whole galaxy."

"Well, they're spread out," explained Roxas. "But they were all concentrated here just a day ago."

"Well, that seemed to be the only group of them left," shrugged Cid. There was a stunned silence.

"In the whole universe?" Roxas confirmed. Cid nodded.

"Then…then we've almost won, right?" Roxas, Riku, and I started to get excited. Kaden just shook his head. Yuffie and Cid looked down awkwardly.

"What's wrong?" asked Roxas confusedly.

Cid exhaled sharply. "It's not that simple."

"What do you mean?"

"Light and darkness make up everything. If the darkness is wiped out for good, the worlds will become unbalanced and unstable."

"What would happen then?"

"Well, it may not affect anything for awhile, but eventually, the worlds could collapse in on themselves…"

"_What?_"

We were all shocked. Kaden remained calm. _I told you things were bad…It's a war that neither side can win._

Then a thought struck me that had never crossed my mind before. _Kaden…would the same concept work for hearts? I mean, if you only have the light or dark side of your heart, not both, would your heart collapse or implode or whatever…?_

_ Um, unfortunately, it probably would…I wouldn't worry too much. You haven't been a Heartless very long._

_ It's not me I'm worried about. _I closed my eyes in despair. _Sora has been missing half of his heart for years._

Kaden went cold. _Is…is there a way to get it back?_

I shook my head. After I got through with Vanitas, there was nothing left. Literally. _I don't think so…It was kinda obliterated…_

_ Yikes, _Kaden gulped. _Well, don't worry. We'll think of something. I promise. _

He didn't sound too sure of himself. I didn't blame him. What could we do anyway? At that moment, Kairi and Melissa walked out of the hotel.

"Oh, hi there!" Melissa waved.

"Who's this?" wondered Yuffie.

"This is Melissa. She's a Keybearer, too. She's helping us out," Kairi introduced her. "Melissa, this is Cid and Yuffie. They're friends of ours."

"Hey there!" exclaimed Yuffie.

"Howdy!" Cid waved.

"So what's up?" wondered Kairi.

"Um…we need everyone here," Roxas answered.

"We got some more info on the Heartless," Riku told her.

Melissa became interested. "What kind of info?"

"Bad info," Riku crossed his arms. "We all need to talk about our next course of action."

"There will be some tough decisions ahead," Roxas added. "Let's go round the others up."

_Top secret meeting time! _I chuckled dryly.

* * *

><p>Please tell me what you thought :) predictions are always fun too ;D<p> 


	11. Chapter 11

Hello again. I apologize for the brief wait on this chapter, but here ya go! This chapter is a little less action than usual but I hope that's ok...

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><p>It was mid afternoon. Though the sky above Radiant Garden was blue and cloudless and the townsfolk went happily about their business, an unsettling feeling nestled itself in the room. Everyone was gathered in Merlin's house: me, Kaden, Roxas, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Melissa, Hayner, Seifer, Rai, Leon, Yuffie, Cid, Tifa, and Merlin. Everyone was either sitting in a random chair or on a table or they were leaning against one of the walls. There was some idle chatter, but for the most part, no one talked. Finally, Roxas let out a deep breath and stepped into the center of the room.<p>

"Alright, everyone."

The room fell silent and everyone turned their attention to him.

"I know I didn't explain what's going on yet. I just told everyone that there was bad news. Well, it turns out we're facing a bigger problem than we ever have before and I'm not going to blindly lead us all into danger. We all need to decide together, as a team, what we're going to do. There's no easy answer to the situation, so we need to be patient with each other and talk everything out. Cid?"

Cid stood up from his seat. "Well, folks, prior to now, our problem was always the Heartless. The darkness tried to overcome the light, yada yada yada. Well, it turns out, the light fought back a little _too _hard. Now we're looking at the complete absence of darkness throughout the universe. As in, no Heartless, no anything like that."

Hayner opened his mouth to say something, but Cid cut him off. "Well, that sounds great, doesn't it? But the thing is, the light and dark are everything. They hold everything together. They keep the worlds in balance. Without that balance, everything could get all haywire and the worlds could basically destroy themselves."

Everyone just stared in shock. Cid continued. "So here's the deal: If all the Heartless are destroyed, the darkness naturally found in people's hearts may be enough to balance everything out and hold the universe together. Then we would all be living in a Heartless-free world with no more suffering or dying. But it might not. Everything could collapse and then…it's over."

"So…we have to decide," Roxas spoke up again. "Do we risk it?"

"Wait a minute," Melissa cut in. "So, what if we decide it's too risky? Then what?"

"Then everything stays as it is."

"You would just let the Heartless live on stealing people's hearts?"

"Neither choice is ideal."

"But our whole duty is to protect people! You would just let the Heartless go about like nothing's wrong? You're sentencing the worlds to death!"

"No. We would keep fighting to protect people or find a way to keep them away or something. We need the Heartless to exist, but we wouldn't just let people die!"

Melissa yelled back again, but Riku stopped the fight. "OK, you two! Obviously there are pluses and minuses to both choices! That's why we all need to discuss this!"

Roxas and Melissa relaxed slightly. Melissa spoke in a more collected manner now. "I just don't see how doing nothing will help. We can never beat the darkness by just warding it off all the time."

"No, but destroying the whole universe won't help either," Seifer grumbled.

"If it's your duty to protect people, you can't risk something like that, y'know?" Rai added.

"But imagine a world free from darkness, a perfect world! That's what humans have been working for since the beginning of time! And we don't know how likely the worlds are to fall apart. What if it isn't that risky after all?" Melissa pointed out.

Roxas said sternly, "Even if there was the slightest chance it could destroy everything, the risk isn't worth taking."

"Roxas," Melissa replied, "I understand what you're saying and I don't want anyone to get hurt either, especially the whole universe! But if nobody ever took any risks, nothing would ever get done."

"I know. Risks are necessary, but not when they're this big. We're talking apocalypse here."

"The Heartless are another factor, too, aren't they?" Kairi joined in, speaking for the first time. Everyone looked over towards her. 'I mean, what if they can learn not to hurt people, just like Ricky and Slasher? Then letting the Heartless live wouldn't be as dangerous, right?"

"They're still killers," Melissa protested. "Most of them don't even have half a heart left, but the ones that do still need to kill to live."

"Wait, what?" Riku stopped her.

"Those Heartless. They're Halfbloods. When they were swallowed by darkness, they only had the light half of their heart taken. I think the darkness is creating them in hopes of doubling its dark power."

"And restoring the balance," Riku cut in.

"Right," Melissa nodded. "But the light in the hearts isn't destroyed by the darkness when it's taken. It forms its own being, a creature called a Solstice."

"Woah, are those the white things we saw in Twilight Town?" exclaimed Hayner.

"Yeah, occasionally they'll listen to me, but not usually," Melissa replied.

Riku got things in order again. "So about these Solstice things…You're saying the dark isn't really balancing everything out again? Since the light of the lost hearts is still here?"

"Exactly."

"And what are the Solstices trying to do? Get rid of the Heartless?"

"Yes. Light naturally tries to drive out darkness. I sent those Solstices after the Heartless in Twilight Town because I knew I couldn't take them all out on my own, but either way, they would've tried to destroy them."

I perked up with an idea, a thought that struck me. _Kaden, that monster… er, Solstice that attacked me…did you think it looked kinda similar to me?_

_ Yeah…_

_ Maybe it wasn't trying to kill me. If it was the other half of my heart, maybe it was trying to rejoin with me or something and make me human again._

_ Could be. That would make sense, wouldn't it? So all we gotta do to become human again is find our light? …Wow. That sounded really cheesy._

I chuckled. _Yeah, just a little bit. Now the only hard part will be finding the right ones…_

At that moment, the window by the door shattered. Everyone jumped and whipped toward it to see a large white monster in armor with two blades protruding from either side of it and the white dragon-like creature from before was next to it.

_Well, that wasn't _that _hard, _joked Kaden.

_Let's go! _I yelled, pouncing at the Solstice perched on the windowsill. I knocked it from where it was standing and tackled it to the ground on the other side. Kaden charged at his target and became locked in combat. I hoped to end the battle quickly. I reared back with mouth open, ready to clamp around the Solstice's neck, but it threw me off and leapt up.

Kaden whacked his enemy across the room, smashing it into the door and causing the door to fly open. He followed up by running and slicing downward. The Solstice leapt backward and dodged it. Now both battles were outside.

"What will happen if they kill each other?" yelled Roxas.

"Well, if the Heartless destroys the Solstice, it becomes whole again. If the Solstice kills the Heartless, its darkness is gone and it's free forever," Melissa explained.

_WHAT? _I looked over at her in disbelief. The Solstice rammed me in the chest. I flew backward into a wall.

Kaden blocked an attack from his enemy. _Katie, don't let it kill you! We have to take _them _out!_

_ I know! _I called, getting back up shakily. The dragon Solstice charged, but I hovered up and clawed its face. It screeched in anger. The others were outside watching now.

"What should we do?" demanded Riku.

"Nothing," Leon answered tensely, "If we intervene and fight off those Solstices, these Heartless will be Heartless forever."

Kaden's foe knocked him to the ground, leaving him defenseless. It raised one blade to stab him through. I glanced over quickly. I tried to run to help him, but the enemy I was fighting barred my path. _KADEN! _I screamed.

Roxas hurled his key so that the edge of the hand guard smashed into the Solstice's face. It stumbled backward and clattered to the ground dizzily. It retreated, disappearing into an orb of light. I roared and leapt at the opponent who remained. I _was _getting my heart back! It flew above me, avoiding my attacks. Roxas stepped forward, ready to throw his Keyblade again. The dragon also retreated, enveloping itself in a portal of light and vanishing.

I let out a low growl. _I'll get you next time, _I swore to the empty space where the dragon-like monster had been. Kaden uneasily got up. _You OK? _I turned to him.

_Yeah, that was close, _he exhaled in relief.

"What was that for?" Melissa addressed Roxas, throwing her hands up.

"It was about to kill him," Roxas answered, sending his weapon away.

"Is that a bad thing?" Melissa raised her eyebrows.

"They still have a heart! You said it yourself!"

"Yeah, the _dark _half! That's the side we all try to get rid of!"

"You need both sides!"

"I don't have both," murmured Sora. The fighting stopped.

"You…don't?" asked Melissa. Sora shook his head.

"He lost the darkness in his heart," Kairi explained sheepishly. "So he just has the light side left now."

"And he's a Keybearer, right?" confirmed Melissa. "That just goes to prove my point! No darkness means a strong heart!"

"Not necessarily," Cid scratched his head. "Just because his heart is strong even without darkness doesn't mean you don't need both halves…I've been doing some research and I'm afraid that the same thing might happen to Sora's heart as to the worlds…"

I gulped. Everyone else paled.

"You mean, like…full-out collapse?" croaked Kairi.

Cid nodded. "I'm sorry, kid, I didn't wanna worry you, but I thought you should know. Maybe there's something we can do about it."

Sora didn't say anything.

"But wait a minute," Roxas jumped in. "He's been living with just half a heart for at least a year now and nothing happened. He's probably fine…right?"

"I don't know," Cid shook his head. "I'll keep looking into it."

Suddenly, there was a scream. A group of four teenage girls ran around the corner. Behind them were a mob of Shadows, quickly gaining on their victims. One leapt for the person in back. The girl in front grabbed a rock and chucked it. It hit the Shadow in the eye and it fell to the ground in annoyance.

"AAAH, RUN FASTER!" another yelled.

Everyone immediately sprung into action. Roxas ran forward while hurling his key, ripping through a few of the Heartless. Melissa jumped over the group and brought her weapon down on the Shadows. Riku grit his teeth as he shot right into the mass of dark creatures and started hacking. The teenagers backed away as the heroes cleared out all the enemies. Some of the Heartless got around them, but Kaden and I took care of those. It seemed like all of the Heartless were gone, when one appeared out of the ground behind the group of teens.

"Look out!" one of them cried in worry. The Shadow leapt with its claws ready. Its target cringed. Roxas shot forward like a bullet, shoving her out of the way and stabbing the Keyblade straight through the Heartless. It disintegrated. He grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her up before she hit the ground. The others started to come out of their state of shock.

"T-thanks," they stammered.

Roxas nodded. "You guys OK?"

"Yeah, thanks."

With a smile, they started to walk away.

"That was so awesome!" one of them whispered.

"No it wasn't! We almost died!"

"I know! That was the craziest adrenaline rush ever!"

There was a facepalm. "Fear and fun aren't the same thing, Skye…"

"Hey! I wasn't scared!"

They walked out of sight. Melissa turned to Roxas with a glare.

"You still think keeping the Heartless around is a good idea?"

Roxas looked down, unsure of what to say. "No, but…"

"There is no 'but'! The Heartless are dangerous! End of story! Now, I don't care what the rest of you decide. I'm saving the world and you can join me if you like." With that, she turned and started to walk away.

"Melissa, wait! MELISSA!" Roxas called. She didn't turn around. Roxas sighed. "Now what?"

"Now we go back to Twilight Town," Riku ordered confidently. "We've got some Solstices to hunt."

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><p>Don't forget those reviews, please :D<p> 


	12. Chapter 12

I will be gone until Thursday so I thought I should post this now! :D

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><p>I panted heavily, fighting back my exhaustion. I glared at my opponent. The draconic Solstice was tiring, as well. This was my chance. I charged forward, roaring loudly to intimidate the enemy. It did the same. We collided. I felt a searing pain slice through my gut. Looking down, my heart thudded in shock when I saw the monster's talons embedded in my body. My energy drained as I stumbled back, my senses becoming numb to everything around me. I looked up with my blurring eyesight. The Solstice screeched and pounced, clawed feet headed straight for my throat...<p>

I jerked awake, breathing quick, panicked gulps of air. I glanced around. Kaden was still asleep next to me. Everyone else was lounging about on random tables and chairs, snoozing peacefully. I took a deep breath and laid my head back down. We were heading to Twilight Town in the morning. I prayed that my dream was no more than fear in my heart, creeping its way out into the night.

The sun rose early in the morning and everyone was awake at the crack of dawn. I sleepily got up with them.

_You OK, Katie? You look exhausted, _noted Kaden.

_Yeah, I'm fine. I just didn't sleep well, _I said, avoiding the topic. The image of the Solstice tearing through my flesh shot through my mind. I shoved it away. As everyone got up and blinked away their sleepiness, Riku turned toward the door.

"Let's go."

"Already?" Roxas looked over at him, slightly shocked. "Everyone just woke up."

Riku turned around to face him. "Melissa has been at Twilight Town for half a day now. Who knows what she did in that time?"

"Riku-"

"Move out." With that, he pushed the door open and stepped outside. Everyone in the room looked at Roxas questioningly. He shoved his hands in his pockets and trudged toward the door.

"Don't look at me," he grumbled on the way out. "I'm not your leader anymore…"

_This isn't good…_

_ Katie, the whole group's falling apart. You gotta take charge or at least do something._

_ What can I do? I'm a freakin' Heartless! They don't even know I'm their friend…_

Kaden sighed. _I guess you're right. I just wish everything was fine…_

_ You're telling me._

We followed everybody out to the ship. Riku was already at the wheel when we got in. Roxas was off in a corner. I wanted to say something, but grunts and growls probably wouldn't be very comforting.

As soon as we got to Twilight Town, Riku stood and turned around. "OK, here's the plan. Half of you come with me to destroy every Solstice we can find. The others will be with Leon in the subway tunnels to protect the Heartless."

"What about Ricky and Slasher?" asked Yuffie.

"They're with me. They'll help us track down the Solstices."

"Uh, Riku? I don't think they'll have to!" Kairi exclaimed with widened eyes.

"Look out!" I roared, jumping for the monster that had snuck up behind him. The Solstice dissipated as I crushed it in my claw.

"Well, they'll certainly be good for defense," Leon grunted.

"Let's go," I growled, heading toward the main part of town.

Kaden chuckled. _So much for not being able to take charge._

_ Kaden, take your group down to the subway and don't let a single Heartless be killed._

_ Aye aye! _He smiled and headed off in one direction. I went in the other. Roxas shrugged and followed me. Riku followed. Everyone else split into two groups and went with either Roxas or Leon.

_If anything bad happens, get within talking range, _I told Kaden.

_Gotcha._

And then we separated, no longer able to hear each other's voices.

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><p>"Sora!" Kairi yelled. The boy's head shot up just as a Solstice pounced at him from above. He blocked just in time. After he shoved it backward, I shot through the air and tore it apart. More of them popped up, surrounding me. Yuffie hurled her shuriken like a boomerang and I watched as it circled around me rapidly and destroyed all of them.<p>

_Thanks, Yuffie, _I thought. After a few more seconds, all of the Solstices in the Sandlot had been destroyed. We all relaxed.

"Alright, let's move on," Riku ordered. "There's bound to be more around here."

_Katie, can you hear me? _Kaden screamed.

_Yeah, loud and clear. What's wrong? Where are you?_

_ We're right below you! Clear out of there right now!_

_ What's happening? _But before he could answer, I felt a low, grumbling vibration through the ground. I froze in horror.

"Move! Everyone move!" I howled, charging toward them. Riku tensed.

"Hey!" He held his sword out.

"Move back! Riku, move!" I yelled. I flapped my wings forward, trying to drive him away. Everyone did back away slightly…but not me. The ground exploded out from beneath me. I was flung into the air, spinning around rapidly and unable to gain control. When I could finally steady myself, I stared down in shock. Two enormous creatures had blasted out of the ground. One was a Darkside, while the other was a huge, white, spiny monster with the Solstice symbol on its chest.

_Katie, where are you? _called Kaden.

_Up, _I replied. _What the heck is that thing?_

_ I don't know. Some kind of Solstice._

_ Well, then I guess we have work to do._

Riku immediately ran toward the Solstice and leapt onto its tail. Roxas ran around the tail and started chopping at the creature's feet. I looked for an opening and then dive bombed. Shooting straight through the battle between the Darkside and the Solstice, I headed right for Kaden's back. _Hold on! _I yelled.

_Huh? _He began to turn around but I scooped him onto my back and shot skyward again.

_Woah! Aaah, this is crazy!_

I came to a halt and hovered high above the Sandlot. _Kaden, you gotta go for its head. That's the only way we're gonna do much damage. The rest of its body is too rough._

_ OK, let's do this!_

I dropped straight at the Solstice's head. As we approached, I took a huge breath and blasted deep, black flames from my mouth. The Solstice screeched as they engulfed its head. Kaden leapt as I soared by the monster, landing right on its snout.

_I didn't even know you could do that! _he exclaimed.

_Me either! _I called back before going to help the others. Suddenly, there was a huge, gut-wrenching cry.

"Look out!" screamed Hayner, pointing at the sky in horror. Everyone turned to see a mob of flying Solstices flooding the air. As one big mass, they dove right at the Darkside.

_Oh no you don't… _I thought to myself. With a rush of adrenaline and a determined roar, I flew at the flock head-on. I sliced through most of them that flew at me. I disintegrated others with my new-found dark power. I barreled straight through the middle of all of them, fearlessly…and stupidly.

I crashed right into one of the oncoming enemies. Falling out of the group, I caught myself and shook away the impact to see which one had crashed into me. It was my other half.

_Alright, this ends now._

I prepared to attack, but Kaden's voice rang through my head again. _Katie, we need your help down here! Right now!_

I looked down at the battle. The Solstices that had gone around me were swarming the defenseless Darkside while the team struggled to escape the giant Solstice's wrath. I growled and glared at my counterpart. It was right there. It would be so easy to just kill it right now. Like a bolt of lightning, I turned and shot toward the Darkside and circled its head, driving away the Solstices and destroying many in the process. I breathed a sigh of relief as they backed off. However, the relaxation was short-lived. The Darkside disappeared in a cloud of darkness as a Keyblade pierced its chest from behind. I gaped.

_Katie, it's her! _Kaden yelled.

_Oh no…_

Melissa called her key back. "Don't move."

Roxas stepped forward, wielding Oathkeeper. "Riku, take out all of these Solstices. I'll handle this."

I flittered down and landed between Roxas and the others, watching for any sign of trouble.

"Roxas, stand aside," Melissa glared.

Roxas said nothing, only stood with his Keyblade ready. Melissa gritted her teeth. "Roxas, _move!_" She shot forward, raising her key to strike. Tifa sprinted forward without delay. As Melissa closed in on Roxas, about to slice downward, Tifa took a running stride through the air, flexed hand reaching outward. Smashing her palm into the Keybearer's face, the fist fighter rushed past her opponent, throwing her to the ground and smashing her against the pavement. Tifa landed perfectly on the other side of Melissa, looking back warily. The Solstices exploded into a frenzied rage.

_Kaden, help! _I gritted my teeth as I positioned myself right between the onslaught of creatures and Tifa. Kaden ran and leapt as high as he could, landing on the first Solstice's back. He stabbed it as he jumped to another, leaping between the flying foes and leaving nothing in his path. Eventually, he gained enough height to jump onto my back. I was busy blasting everything with my dark breath. As each enemy approached, I sniped them down. Ones that got close enough to get around me had to answer to Kaden. Within a minute, all of the Solstices around us were destroyed. Now we just had to deal with the enormous one.

_Ready? _Kaden asked me.

_You bet. _I soared over toward the large foe, a glint of ambition in my eyes. Melissa rose to her feet, panting and steadying herself. Then, with a battle cry, she dove straight at Tifa. Roxas jumped through the air, landing directly between the two and blocking her attacks. Tifa and Roxas switched off taking the front position, each of them blocking the incoming attacks and trying to land a few of their own blows, then dancing back behind their ally for a second-long break.

"Sora, take out that huge enemy! I'm gonna help Tifa and Roxas!" Riku called. Sora nodded. Leon looked toward Yuffie.

"Go help Tifa! I'm with Sora!"

"You betcha!" she yelled before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Leon ran at the Solstice's feet and sliced down right into one of its toes. It hissed in anger. It lifted one foot and stomped down to crush the annoying pest, but Leon quickly leapt out of the way. Sora took a bounding leap up onto the creature's thigh, then ran vertically up its stomach onto one shoulder. The monster screeched and snapped its enormous teeth at the Keybearer. Sora somersaulted through the air to the other arm just in time. When it lunged with its jaws again, Sora jumped up into its mouth, proceeding to stab straight upward into its gums. The roar that followed shook the entire town. Narrowly avoiding the Solstice's teeth on the way out, Sora dove out of the mouth and landed on his feet on the ground.

Tifa swung a fist for Melissa's face. The Keybearer ducked and sliced back up with an uppercut. Tifa yelled as she was thrown backward. Yuffie suddenly appeared behind Melissa.

"Oh no you didn't." She kicked the Keyblader in the back of the legs, causing her to crouch over and lose balance. Then, grabbing her under the arms, Yuffie flipped backward and kicked while completely upside-down, hurling Melissa across the Sandlot and sliding her across the ground. Tifa got up, wincing and holding her gut.

"You ok?" Roxas ran over.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she gritted her teeth. "We gotta take out that Solstice before anyone gets hurt."

Roxas fixed his serious gaze on the giant enemy across the battlefield. "Let's go."

Hayner, Seifer, and Rai stood before the great white beast. "Hey, over here!" Hayner yelled.

"No, this way!" Seifer called.

"Come fight me, y'know?"

Roxas ran up behind Hayner. "How's everyone doing?"

"Good." The two friends dove from a giant, clawed foot. "We're provoking it while the others go in for the kill. Leon, Riku, and Sora are behind it right now with Merlin and Kairi backing them up. They're going for the head. We think that's its weak spot!"

"Look out, y'know!" yelled Rai. The Solstice whipped around, swinging its tail across the entire span in front of it. Roxas, Hayner, Seifer, and Rai were all thrown off onto the side of the Sandlot. I glared angrily. We had to finish this right now.

I swooped in for its head. It gnashed at us as we got closer, forcing me to swing out of the way. I looped around and tried again but it did the same thing. _We can't get close enough… _I growled. Meanwhile, Sora, Leon, and Riku were still scaling the Solstice's back. They were just at the neck when the monster noticed them. Narrowing its eyes, it let out a shrill cry and whipped around madly, trying to throw them off.

_Kaden, we're going right in by its head, no matter what! We gotta take it out right now! _

_ Agreed! Go!_ I lowered my head and beat my wings furiously. We launched through the air at breakneck speeds. Sora and the others fell off of the beast from the constant movement while Merlin and Kairi launched futile spells. We neared its face, still going faster than ever before. We were going straight for its eye. Kaden had just pushed off from my back when suddenly, there was a piercing screech in the air. My head shot up and before I knew what was happening, I was plummeting to the ground with a Solstice's claws locked into my stomach. I screamed in pain and struggled to catch myself, but I couldn't move with the monster on top of me.

_KATIE!_

_ Keep going, Kaden! _I cried. _Kill it!_ With a low, guttural gnarl, I kicked my duplicate off of me. _I don't ever give up, do I?_

The dragon roared and beat through the air at me. I swooped under the attack, turning around and launching my dark breath. It countered with pure, white flames and the two attacks negated each other and disappeared. I flew up at my enemy, trying to headbutt it, but it dodged. I started to feel weaker from the throbbing in my gut. I looked down. The claws had left a huge, open gash that was starting to bleed everywhere.

_Great. _I rolled my eyes. When there was a loud screech and a thud, I whipped around. The huge Solstice fell to the ground and faded away into the sunlight.

_ Got it! _Kaden yelled from below. I tried to ignore him and focus my attention on the battle at hand. My other half stared me down and I glared back. For a split second, there was dead silence throughout the whole world. Nothing but the sound of the wind whispering…

The Solstice disappeared in a flash of light. I went deadpan. After all that, it had just run away. Blatantly run away. I shook my head. _Nuts…_

I hovered down to the ground by the group and landed. Kaden pushed through everyone but stopped dead when he saw my wound. _Katie…you're hurt._

_ I'm fine,_ I winced. It was really starting to burn now.

"Hey, Merlin," Kairi called as she stepped out from everyone. "Do you think a Cure spell would work on Ricky too?"

Merlin cocked his head. "Well…I don't see why not." With a swish of his hands, there was a green flash around me and the pain was almost completely gone. There was still a slight mark, but not noticeably. I sighed deeply. _Thank. You. Merlin. _

Riku glanced around. "Where's Melissa?"

"Gone," Tifa answered as Kairi cast Cura on her injury. "She fled right after we all went after that huge Solstice."

"I guess all the bad guys are cowards today," Hayner grinned and slung his Struggle club over his shoulder.

"She's not a bad guy," Roxas mumbled.

Hayner did a double take. "Dude, she tried to kill you!"

"I know, but we tried to kill her. And I don't think she actually wants to be against us. She just wants to help, like all of us do."

Seifer shook his head. "This is so messed up…"

"Let's get some rest. It's been a long day for everyone," Riku stated. "And I don't think we can resolve anything right now, so the best thing we can do is gather our strength."

"Yeah, you're right," admitted Hayner. They started to walk toward the inn. I turned around and began to walk too. Roxas gasped. Everyone stopped and looked at him. I looked back over my shoulder at him. His eyes were huge like he had just realized something.

"Everything OK?" questioned Tifa.

"Y-yeah," he nodded. "I'm fine, it's nothing."

We all settled down in our rooms. Kairi and Yuffie actually snuck us into our own room this time so we wouldn't have to sleep on the hard ground. I was grateful, as long as we weren't spotted. That would end in disaster. We all met in the room at evening to hang out until night. We had some small conversations, just about little stupid things. We were just passing the time, trying to relax for once.

The conversations died down for a little while and it was quiet. Suddenly, there was a loud, low grumble. Yuffie slapped a hand over her stomach as she started to turn red. "Sorry…I'm kinda hungry…"

"Me too," Hayner added, sitting up and scratching his head.

"We could order in sushi," the ninja suggested. Leon groaned. "Ilike it, ok? _You_ don't have to eat it!"

"It's OK," Roxas stood up. "Me and Ricky got this." I looked over confusedly. He opened the window and began to climb out, apparently expecting me to follow. "Let's go snag some fish." With that, he swung from a tree branch down to the ground. I stopped dead. Snag the fish? Did he just say that on purpose or was it coincidence? Maybe I was getting too hopeful and just hearing things that weren't there but…no one else would have caught that reference. I jumped out the window and floated to the ground. He silently walked in the direction of the ocean, acting so casual like nothing was wrong. I frowned and slowly walked behind him.

Did he know it was me?


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13! This is so exciting! Thank you so much to everyone who has been reviewing this story. It really means alot :) This chapter has some randomly awesome parts so woohoo XD Please enjoy!

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><p>Roxas and I walked in complete silence toward the docks. I kept running the past few weeks through my head. He hadn't acted like he knew it was me. What had given it away? Or did he slowly piece everything together? I was almost sure that he had figured it out, though. But then, why hadn't he said anything to me or anyone else?<p>

I groaned to myself. _Roxas, why are you so secretive? _We finally reached the water. Roxas sat down at the end of a dock and exhaled. I walked up beside him but didn't sit. We both looked out at the setting sun. Neither of us spoke or even looked at each other for a long time.

"Hey, Katie."

My head snapped over to him. He smiled. "I know that's you."

I cocked my head at him.

"I sorta figured out that it was you as time went by. I had a feeling at first, you know? Even though you were gone, I had this feeling like you were still with us, like everything was still OK."

"That's hope," I said with a smile, even though he had no clue what I was saying.

"But there were other things," he continued. "The way you acted, your unwillingness to hurt anyone, your protectiveness of us…When we found out about the Halfbloods who still had part of their heart and I thought about everything that had happened, I was almost sure it was you. Then when we were walking to the inn earlier, I saw the scar on your left wing. Then I knew for sure."

I glanced at the back of my left wing near my shoulder. There were three prominent gashes. I had completely forgotten about my scar. It was from the Terror that had scratched my arm. It was pretty noticeable on me, but in my wyvern form, it almost blended into the color of my wings. The very top was the only place where it could be significantly seen.

"I'd know that mark anywhere," laughed Roxas. "Remember when we used to use those marks as the starter for pictures we would draw on your arm?" I flattened my ears in unamusement. I did indeed remember those times. My annoyance quickly turned into confusion, though. If he had known without a doubt that it was me, why hadn't he said something? When he gasped after seeing the mark earlier, Hayner had asked what was wrong and Roxas denied anything. Why didn't he tell them? I growled and motioned toward the inn.

"Do the others know?" he frowned, guessing at what I was asking.

I shook my head.

"Why didn't I tell them?" I shook my head in agreement this time. He chuckled. "You know, it's really hard to have a conversation with someone who can't talk."

I shrugged and rolled my eyes. It wasn't my fault he never learned to speak wyvern. "Well, I guess I didn't tell them because I didn't want to hurt them," Roxas answered. I became even more confused. Had he seen how hurt everyone was, especially Sora? "Let me explain," he quickly added. "Imagine I told them it was you and then something horrible happened and they lost you again. For real this time. That would hurt so much more than what they're feeling right now."

I hung my head. He was probably right. We had no idea how this was all going to end, and being a Heartless, I was certainly in more danger than anyone else. Especially with crazy key-lady running around on a rampage…

Roxas looked down shamefully at the water. "Sorry." I shook my head fervently. He didn't have to apologize. He was just trying to protect everyone. "Sorry you're a Heartless. Sorry about everything. This is all my fault." He buried his face in his hands.

I grumbled in concern. This was _not _his fault. There was nothing anyone could have done. "Sora didn't want to go," Roxas mumbled while still hiding his face. I looked quizzically at him. He lifted his head up to look at me. I was shocked to see that tears had stained his cheeks. "Sora didn't want to do this mission. Not all of it anyway. He said he had a bad feeling about it, that we should pull out as soon as we could. But I wanted to be sure that Radiant Garden had everything under control. I should've just listened to him… Now, he won't talk to me or even look at me. I think he blames me for losing you."

My heart sank. I had no idea all this was going on. So much for not keeping secrets from each other. "Sorry, Katie. I didn't mean to dump this all out on you. It's just…those guys need me and expect me to be strong and lead them. If I fall apart in front of them, everyone is gonna give up."

"Quit with the apologies! This isn't your fault!" I snarled. "They have no idea how hard it is to have everyone looking to you for support and expecting you to know what to do."

Roxas smiled sadly. "It's OK, Katie. I know that if I could understand you, you'd think of something that would make me feel better." I nuzzled his shoulder and growled softly to tell him it was alright, even though he still couldn't understand me. It was the closest thing to a hug that I could give. He smiled and cried one last tear as he wrapped an arm around my neck. "Thanks, Katie."

It was silent for a few moments. Finally, Roxas stood. "Well, we'll have to actually come back with some fish since that's what we're supposed to be doing."

I peered into the ocean apprehensively. Roxas laughed at me. "Not from there, doofus! There's a fish mart up the street!"

Doofus? I glared and shot past him. "Hey! No fair, you can fly!" he yelled as he chased after me. I laughed and hung back, making sure to always be a little ahead of him. We raced all the way back to the plaza. I landed and smirked smugly. Roxas ran up behind me and doubled over panting. I grunted.

We bought a few large fish as the sky darkened to its midnight blue and we began to head back to the others. I wanted so badly to tell them who I was, especially Sora. I couldn't bear to see him so heartbroken. But I knew Roxas was right. We couldn't tell them until this was all over or until I was human again. I froze as something cold and wet suddenly exploded on my back. Not a second later, Roxas was hit as well. We both tensed and whipped around. Across the street were the four girls from earlier, armed with buckets upon buckets of water balloons. They were laughing at us until one of them stopped in shock. "Hey, that's the guy who saved us before!"

The second girl completely ignored her and lobbed another balloon. Roxas caught this one and smirked competitively. The girl's face dropped dead. "Uh-oh…"

"Hah!" Roxas let out a quick yell as he hurled his balloon. It was a direct hit to his target and the female ended up drenched. "Oh, it's on!" she yelled as she grabbed one balloon for each hand and charged at Roxas. The other three friends in the group instinctually took some and joined in. I flew straight through the group, snatching one of the buckets in my talons.

"Hey!" they yelled after me. I hovered up above them and dumped it. The cascade of water bombs exploded everywhere, completely soaking them. While they were freaking out, I swooped in and grabbed another bucket. I sped over to Roxas who was still running from the crazed teenager. I hovered next to him with the stash of water balloons.

He grinned. "Thanks." He grabbed some and started running backwards, lobbing the balloons at the same time. The girl's eyes widened as the balloons bombed her in the face. Just then, two more balloons came in from the side, one hitting Roxas in the arm and the other one blasting my wing. The other girls were stampeding toward us with balloons ready and many more stashed up. I got pelted and dropped my bucket. They proceeded to launch an all-out assault.

After nearly ten seconds of war cries from them and explosions of water in our faces, everything halted. We all stared at each other in complete silence, all of us sopping wet and dripping all over the street. Then, simultaneously, we all burst into laughter. Including me, which, by the way, sounded very odd. After our giggles slowly died out, Roxas introduced himself. "Hey, I'm Roxas. This is Ricky." I glared at him for using my fake name. He held in a laugh.

The girl who had first attacked us held out a hand. "I'm Fang. This is Skye, Rhym, and Echo." They all smiled and waved. Roxas shook Fang's hand.

"Sorry for attacking you," Rhym spoke up. "It was Skye's idea."

Skye grinned awkwardly. "We were bored…and you were the only ones who were really out…"

"It's OK, no harm done," Roxas smiled. "We do have to get going though. Nice meeting you!" We started to walk away. Fang called after us, "Hey! I like your pet, by the way!"

"She's not a pet, she's my best friend!" he answered as we rounded a corner.

"What a weirdo…" Echo mumbled.

"Who names a girl Ricky anyway?" Rhym wondered.

Fang frowned. "I think it's cute."

"What is? The dragon or the guy?" Skye snickered. Fang socked her in the arm.

"Someone has a total crush," teased Echo.

"Shut up," Fang growled. I shook my head as we got too far away for me to hear them anymore. We got back to the inn shortly after that. We were heading toward the window when we heard yelling inside the room.

"Sora, you're being selfish. Do you realize how much danger everyone is in? You know we can't do that!" Leon's voice yelled.

"Why not? This is getting us nowhere! You're all siding with the Heartless now and going back and forth about what we should do! There's only one thing we _can _do!"

"We aren't siding with the Heartless, Sora, we're just trying to do what's right."

"Right? Sitting around and talking about stupid things that don't matter is _right_?"

"Everyone needed a chance to not think about the war ahead of us."

"Well we _need _to think about it! How is what we're doing gonna solve the problem anyway?"

"The light is too strong! We need the darkness back!"

"THE DARKNESS TOOK AWAY FROM ME THE ONE PERSON I CARED MOST ABOUT IN ALL THE WORLDS! I AM NOT GOING TO HELP DESTROY ALL THE GOOD THINGS IN THIS UNIVERSE THAT EVERYONE HOLDS DEAR!"

There was a huge door slam as Sora ran out of the room. "Wait!" Riku yelled after him from the doorway, but he was gone. There were violent, thudding footsteps and the front entrance to the inn swung open as Sora stormed out. He quickly disappeared into the night. I gulped. He had been so silent the last few weeks that you would think he was mute. What on earth had happened in there to make him snap like that?

Roxas quickly scampered up the tree and into the room. I didn't worry about the fish on the ground and just flew up to the windowsill. "What happened?" Roxas asked quickly and worriedly. "Is everything OK?"

Leon closed his eyes with a pained expression on his face. "We got into an argument."

"Well, I guess he just needs time to blow off steam. He'll be back when he's calmed down, right?" Roxas asked. No one said anything for a moment. My nervousness threatened to eat me from the inside out.

Riku pounded his fist into the doorframe. "He's leaving."

"What?" Roxas' eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"He's leaving," Leon repeated. "He's going to find Melissa."

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><p>Ooh...things get interesting now, eh? ;D Life is so messed up, that's all I'm gonna say XD Hope you liked it! Please tell me how I did!<p> 


	14. Chapter 14

Here is chapter 14! Enjoy!

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><p>There seemed to be a lot of awkward silences lately. We all sat in the group room after Sora left, and then everyone headed off to their own rooms silently until Kaden and I were the only ones left. My jaw was locked up tight. <em>Kaden…what happened?<em>

_ They were talking about old times and the mission against the Heartless in Radiant Garden came up. It kinda went downhill from there…_

I felt a fire light in the pit of my stomach. _We're going._

_ Huh?_

_ We're going after Sora. After everyone is asleep._

_ I don't think that's such a good idea…_

_ Fine. I'll go myself._

_ Katie, settle down. Everyone is having trouble right now. Sora is just following what his heart is telling him._

_ Well, I am too!_ I protested. _You have no idea how hard it is to watch the one you love fall apart from the inside out! _I clenched my teeth together and left the room before the tears could start falling. Kaden stood alone in the dark and closed his eyes.

_Actually…I do._

I crept out the window and took off into the night, crying and wanting nothing more than to escape the horrible, confusing, messed-up thing known as life.

There was a huge chasm. There was fighting…hatred…pain…a blinding light…

I jerked awake to find myself in the Woods, lying in the shadows. The moon's light glided palely through the foliage. I had flown there after leaving the inn and had fallen asleep. Stress and hurt were more exhausting than I thought.

My mind flicked back to my dream. It was almost like a vision. The last dream I had came true. I had found my Solstice again and been attacked by it. What if everything that happened in my dream just now would happen later on?

I sighed from all the overwhelming crap that was going on. Suddenly, I heard a noise coming from somewhere close by. I turned my head toward the sound. A Shadow crawled out of the trees. It looked at me briefly, cocking its head as if asking me something. Then it slinked off toward the mansion. I followed it out of curiosity. Once it reached the main entrance to the manor, it sank into the ground and crawled underneath the door.

I growled. _You couldn't have picked a sneakier, more wyvern-friendly way to get in? _I looked up at the mansion for another entrance. Hovering up as silently as possible, I pulled open a window above the main doors and crept inside. The darkness was eerily quiet and I felt my Heartless instincts immediately adjust to the new setting, allowing me to see as if it were broad daylight. I peered down from above, surveying the large, lobby-like front room. The Shadow was waddling across the ground toward the staircase. Once it was on the second floor, it entered the room on the right. I glided over and kept following at a distance.

When I entered the room, my eyes bulged. There was a descending set of stairs that led to a section of the house that looked completely different. I hesitantly walked down and stepped through a doorway. Inside was an odd room with a large computer and some sort of chamber with a machine hanging above it.

I looked around confusedly as I walked over toward the computer screen. On it was a program similar to Cid's that showed the darkness level, but this one was on a universe-wide scale. I stared in horror at the small, scattered specks of darkened area that showed the Heartless level. This was getting serious.

The Shadow looked quickly at me, then disappeared through the Corridors. I saw a flashing icon on the bottom of the computer screen. With slight difficulty, I used my snout to move the cursor over it and click on it.

A small screen popped up on the computer that read 'TRANSPORTER OFF'. Curiously, I moved over the 'ON' button below it. I clicked. There was soft, whirring noise behind me. I looked back to see a red beam humming down through the chamber-like space. I couldn't believe it. Melissa didn't have a gummi ship. This was how she had been getting around! She had a transporter _inside the abandoned mansion!_

I cautiously approached the beam and stepped underneath. I had no idea where it would lead. _Curiosity killed the cat _was all I could think to myself. Good thing I'm not a cat.

When the flash of light form the teleporter vanished, I found myself on a cliff which used to overlook Hollow Bastion Castle. Now it was just rubble. I stepped out of the chamber there and stared in shock. These two worlds were connected to each other by that transporter. That's how Melissa had been getting back and forth so quickly.

I walked over to the edge of the cliff to see what was left of the castle. My stomach dropped to my feet. The entire ground was _white. _And not white like someone had come and painted it. White like it was completely _covered _in Solstices. They coated the ground, all sleeping as an enormous mass, all seemingly waiting for something…

I breathed heavily in panic and dashed for the transporter beam again. Once I was through, I dashed outside and took off straight for the inn again. Kaden had to see this. We weren't just up against light here. We were up against an army.

I landed quite ungracefully on the windowsill and began freaking out. _Kaden! Kaden, wake up! You have to come with me _right now! _This is serious! _I accidentally started growling quietly from the excitement. _Kaden, get up!_

He wearily opened his eyes and looked around, puzzled. _Huh? What's going on?_

_ Big stuff! Huge stuff! Bad stuff! Come on! _

_What are you talking ab-AAAAH!_ I grabbed him by the arms and soared out the window. He screamed as he dangled from my claws high above the town. I didn't have time to be annoyed. I flew us right to the mansion and flapped right through the window I had entered before, landing on the second floor. Kaden tried to reorient himself but I used my head to shove him toward the door on the right.

_Aaah, I'm going! I'm going! _he murmured angrily. He pushed open the door and looked down. _Wow._

_ That's not the bad part! Go down!_

He walked down the staircase and into the computer room. I was anxiously on his tail the whole time. _Katie, you're freaking out. I can _see _you shaking! Are you OK?_

_ Just touch that beam right there. _I motioned toward the transporter ray. He looked at me skeptically and then walked through it, beaming himself over to Radiant Garden. I followed him through. When I appeared on the other side, Kaden gaped.

_ She's been teleporting back and forth the whole time! No wonder we can't keep up with her!_

_ That's still not the bad part, _I told him, standing at the edge of the cliff. _Look…_

I swear I could hear Kaden's heart jump when he walked up next to me. He stared, absolutely terrified, unable to say anything. I glanced at him nervously. _Now do I have permission to freak out?_

_ We have to tell them, _Kaden demanded, eyes still locked on the field below. _They have to know what's coming._

_ But how, Kaden? If you haven't noticed, we can't exactly talk!_

_ Well, you got Roxas to figure out who you were, right? Maybe we can show them somehow._

_ Yeah, like by showing them, _I perked up. _We have to bring them here…Cid! That's it! Cid is still here in Radiant Garden! _

_ What about everyone else? _Kaden wondered.

_We'll have Cid call them here. We can all meet up._

_ Ok, sounds like a plan._

_ Let's go! _I took off as Kaden leapt onto my back and I headed for Merlin's house, where Cid would surely be staying.

_Won't Cid be annoyed that we woke him up? _Kaden asked.

I stared straight ahead. _For something this important, I don't think he'll care._

* * *

><p>We got to Merlin's house after a few minutes. Kaden peered into the window. <em>Yeah, he's asleep alright. He fell asleep right at his computer…it's kinda sad actually.<em>

I pushed the door open slowly. It creaked and slowly sprinkled moonlight across the floor. I crept toward Cid's flopped-over body. He was snoring loudly.I turned back toward Kaden skeptically._ You sure this is gonna work…?_

_ It was your idea! _he yelled. I sighed and turned back to Cid. I bumped him in the back gently, trying to stir him. He didn't budge. I pushed harder. Still no response. I jabbed him this time, shoving him forward. He screamed and leapt up, scaring the metaphorical pants off of me and Kaden. I jumped back and roared in shock, which caused Cid to turn around and yell even louder.

_Grab him! _cried Kaden. Cid dashed to a pile of junk in the room and grabbed something out of it. He turned toward me with a war cry, pointing a huge spear forward. I yelled as loud as I could.

_He has a lance! _

_ GRAB HIM! _Kaden screamed. Cid charged forward and jabbed his pointed weapon at me. I stepped to the side just in time. I frantically hovered a few feet off of the ground and grabbed his lance to keep him from swinging it around. Then I shot out the door, carrying Cid, who was dangling from the handle. He cursed and yelled at me as I flew. Kaden had leapt onto my back and looked uselessly at the man.

He hung there, flailing for awhile, but then he grunted as he pulled himself up. Then he proceeded to barrage my face with smacks and punches, which were mostly useless against my rough skin, but I couldn't see where I was flying. _Kaden, do something! _I shouted.

_Like what?_

_ Anything! I can't see! _

Kaden ran up onto my head but stood there, not sure what to do without hurting him. Cid went after Kaden. He yelled and tackled him onto my back, throwing punches which Kaden barely dodged but were then hitting me in the back. He was probably loud enough to wake the whole world, including the Solstices.

_Kaden, he's too loud! _I cried. _We gotta do something! _I struggled to hover down to the ground and land. Once I finally did, Kaden jumped and pushed Cid onto the ground, who was still screaming bloody murder. Looking around and finding nothing else to use to shut him up, I shoved the handle of the lance into his mouth. It greatly muffled the sound but he wasn't calming down at all.

_I'd say this mission is not going to end well, _Kaden gulped, holding the stick in Cid's mouth.

_What can we do? _I wondered. I stared down at the spazzing Cid. Maybe he just needed to realize it was us and calm down. Although, we did pretty much kidnap him in the middle of the night…

_Let's just haul him to the cliff kicking and screaming, _Kaden groaned, still holding the lance down into Cid's mouth. _We're almost there._

_There's no way we can get him over there like this, _I shook my head. _Just let go of the lance._

_ Huh? Are you nuts?_

_ Just trust me, _I replied. _I've known him longer than you._

_ OK… _Kaden hesitantly relaxed. Cid burst into a sitting position, spewing the lance out of his mouth. We both let him freak a little and take in the situation before we did anything. I waited hopefully. Finally, he glared at both of us.

"Why in the name of all that's good would you drag me out here in the middle of the night? I thought you were with the others!"

I ignored him and started walking toward the cliff. Kaden was right beside me. Cid grumbled to himself as he scooped up his lance and trudged after us. When we got to the cliff, we waited for Cid to catch up. He looked at us confusedly as we waited on either side of him. "What is it I'm supposed to see, huh?" he asked. He walked slowly over to the cliff and gaped. "Oh man….oh man…"

_Never fails to amaze, _I grinned.

"We gotta call everyone else. First thing tomorrow morning, we're calling them and telling them. They gotta get over here right away."

_And it all works out, _I smirked smugly. _Just like I told ya._

_ Well, if the one who got pummeled in the face says it worked out OK, I can't argue._

"This is crazy! Crazy…" Cid mumbled to himself, shaking his head in distress as he headed back toward town. Kaden turned and followed behind him. I lingered a moment before circling around and walking after Kaden and Cid. I stopped and looked back over the cliff when I heard voices. I got down low to the ground and peered over the side of the rock. I gasped in shock to find Melissa and Sora walking below.

"I've been tracking Heartless patterns. They're all grouping together to lead one last assault against the light," Melissa was explaining. "With this army of Solstices I've slowly been gathering, we can take them all out in one fight and then the Heartless will finally be extinct."

Sora didn't say anything, only looked down at the ground as he plodded beside her. She looked over at him. "You know, I could tell you kept quiet because you didn't agree with the others, but I expected you to be a little more talkative once you were away from them. Are you OK?"

"I hate that castle," he growled. Melissa looked over at the ruins of Hollow Bastion's stronghold.

"Well, good thing it got destroyed then, right?" she smiled.

Sora stared down hatefully at the ground. "No. I hate it for falling down." Melissa was taken aback. "It killed her."

"Who?" Melissa looked over with a pained expression.

"She was my sky, my heart, my everything. We were all in that castle when it collapsed. She was the only who didn't get out."

Melissa had paled. "I-I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I had no idea." She looked down at her shoes like Sora, unsure what to say next. My throat closed up as I turned and dashed back to Kaden and Cid.

* * *

><p>Hope you enjoyed! I know that I always get a kick out of the Cid scene XD Please review! Also, I just posted a new story called Living and Dying. It's very different from my other stories, but it's probably my best one yet (or one of the best, anyway.) Please give it a read and tell me what you think of it :) thanks for the support, like always!<p> 


	15. Chapter 15

Sorry for the slight wait on this chapter. Anyway, hope you like it!

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><p><em>What took ya? <em>Kaden looked back over his shoulder as I caught up to them.

"Well, about time!" Cid called when he saw me. "We need a lift! I ain't walkin' all the way back to town!"

_Yeah, yeah, _I grumbled, scooping the two up and flying back toward Merlin's house. I stared straight ahead and said nothing to Kaden.

_You OK? _my fellow Heartless asked me with concern in his thoughts.

_Sora is here with Melissa, _I replied, still staring straight ahead.

_Oh…yikes, _Kaden looked to the side nervously. _So he's really with her on this…_

I didn't answer for awhile. Kaden didn't talk either, unsure of what to say. After a minute, I sighed. _Why are you even my friend, Kaden? You've only seen me when I'm depressed or pissed-off…or both._

Kaden smiled. _Because you're a good person. I can see it in your heart._

_ Yeah right, _I thought.

_ I know how much it hurts, _he continued._ I really do. I have an odd power to see_ _other people's hearts and I can feel that yours is falling apart right now. But everyone's is. You're not alone._

_ Yeah, but Sora's is _literally _falling apart! And so is the world and goodness knows what we're gonna do about the army of freaky, white monsters over there! I don't know, Kaden. I don't know what to do or how to do it. There's too much going on and I'm just one stupid, little kid. I can't do this._

_ You know, the ironic thing is that you can't even see your own heart. You're amazing in every way possible, Katie, and you will get through this. I know it. If Sora didn't already have you, I would take you in a heartbeat. Any guy would._

His words sank right down into my chest and warmed my aching heart. I smiled and closed my eyes, calming down significantly. _Thanks, Kaden._

_ Of course, _he smiled with a melancholy tone in his voice._ You're the closest friend I've ever had._

I felt a twinge of pain in my heart as he said it but I didn't say anything. "Well," Cid broke what was a silence to him. "When we get back, we're going right to bed! Old Cid needs his sleep! We'll call the others first thing in the morning. And there is _no _waking me up again in the middle of the night! If you gotta go potty, you go outside yourself like a good baby, you hear?"

I rolled my eyes._ We should've just let the dude sleep._

_ Man, he's worse than me when I've gotten up too early…_

_ That's saying something, _I grinned mockingly.

_Aww, shut up! Look who's talking! _he laughed.

We finally made it back to a peaceful, sound-asleep Radiant Garden. I was surprised that our racket from earlier didn't wake the whole world. I landed outside the door to Merlin's residence and allowed my passengers to unload. Cid trudged forward, lazily pushed the door open, and just dropped dead asleep on the floor, murmuring something about cheesecake. Kaden just shook his head and stepped inside. I did the same, making sure not to step right on Cid's body.

_Wow, he's really out, _I noted.

_Yup, we must've exhausted him, _Kaden chuckled, finding a suitable spot on the floor.

_Well, good night, Kaden, _I murmured, curling up and resting my head on the cold stones.

_Night, _he replied and closed his eyes. We were both asleep within minutes.

* * *

><p>The sun rose bright and early the next morning, illuminating the floor by the window at the crack of dawn. Birds chirped quietly to themselves and some creature far off in the distance called out, sounding a new day. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. Kaden was still passed out, his chest moving up and down slowly to the rhythm of his breath. Cid was still sprawled out on the floor in front of the entrance in the exact same position he fell asleep in. If I didn't know better, I'd swear he was dead.<p>

Glancing at the clock that perpetually showed up on Cid's computer screen, I saw that it was only 5:00. There was no way either of them would wake up yet. I carefully stepped over Cid and walked outside. Immediately upon exiting the house into the cool, crisp morning, I closed my eyes and let the beautiful sunrise wash over my face. I spread my tense wings and softly took to the air. The ever-so-slight breeze rippled across me. I closed my eyes and drifted lazily through the sky, thousands of feet from the ground, for the first time letting go of everything that had been fogging my mind over the last few weeks. It felt good to not think about anything.

I flew with the birds and with the winds, over painted rock and over man-made village. For a moment, just a brief, blissful moment, I forgot everything and everyone entirely. But I opened my eyes as my heart jumped and my ears detected a heightening, whirring sound. A Solstice with large fists and curved wings was soaring straight at my face. On instinct, I let myself drop down underneath. It soared straight over me and missed with its strike completely. I quickly showered it with waves of dark flames that engulfed and destroyed it. I breathed heavily, adrenaline still pumping through my veins. _Well, there's one less Halfblood who's becoming human again. _That's when I decided it was time to go home. Didn't want the whole Solstice army finding out I was here.

There's always that one thing that pulls you back to reality.

When I got back to Merlin's, it was nearly six o' clock. I snuck inside as quietly as possible, seeing as Kaden and Cid were both still asleep. I decided to make breakfast while they were still in their state of comatose. _Lazy bums. _I smiled as they both snored loudly, still not budging at all.

I went out to the markets with some munny I had grabbed from Merlin's supply. I'd pay him back eventually. None of the shops were open this early but I figured I wasn't technically stealing if I left the payment there. I picked up a bagel and some fresh paopu juice for Cid, leaving an estimated munny amount for them. I had _no _idea how much donated hearts from the surgeon's office cost so I just left the remaining munny in a pile on the front desk.

I flew back to Merlin's place with the food and the...well, food….in my claws. When I entered, Cid and Kaden slowly woke up. "Well, hey there. Where were you, Ricky?" Cid asked as he rubbed his eyes and yawned. I set the bag with the bagel and juice carton down by him. "Woah! Thanks, Ricky!" His eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store. He immediately started gobbling down the treats.

I waddled over to Kaden with the bag of hearts in my hand. _Katie, where did you…?_ Kaden stared at it with a horrified expression.

_They're donated hearts from the surgeon, _I rolled my eyes at him.

_Oh…_ He relaxed a bit. Cid looked over. "Hey, what have you two got there-?" He immediately paled upon seeing the sealed, plastic bag. He forced himself to only stare at his juice after that, fighting back vomit the whole meal. I ate as quickly as I could, not wanting to think about it either. Kaden and I both ate two of them since it had been awhile since we stocked up and there were four there anyway.

After we had disposed of all the trash, Cid flicked his computer on and dialed up Yuffie. Her watch beeped like a phone a few times. Cid invented watches that could communicate with each other for Yuffie, Leon, and Tifa so they could get a hold of each other when need be. After a few more beeps, Yuffie picked up.

"Ugh, what is it, Cid?" she groaned. "It's still early…"

"Don't you be tellin' me about what's early! These darned Heartless had me up at two in the morning!"

"What? Ricky and Slasher? But they were over here with us!"

"Yeah, well, some job you did keepin' 'em contained…Anyway, you all gotta get over here as fast as possible! We've got a serious problem. Tell the others to prepare to leave as soon as possible."

"Yes, _Dad_," she mumbled sarcastically.

"Don't you gimme that sass! If it weren't for these amazing Heartless, we may just have all been doomed right now!"

_You know us darned, amazing Heartless… _Kaden quipped. I hid a chuckle.

"Now go, Yuffie! Get those bums on their feet!"

"All right, all right! But what about Sora?"

"What about him?"

"We don't know where he is."

"Oh, what? Ya lost the kid too?

"I didn't _lose _him! He ran off! He said he was joining up with Melissa."

Cid's irritated side instantly mellowed out. "Oh."

No one spoke for a moment. "Well," Cid scratched his head. "Then I guess there's nothing we can do. Just bring everyone else over here."

"You don't think he's serious though, do you? I just assumed he was angry. I'd think he would come back."

"Well…if he isn't back already, I don't know. Just bring everyone else over."

"OK," she looked down, flicking off her watch as she got up.

Cid exhaled deeply to himself. I laid down on the floor, still slightly tired from the short night. _Now what? _Kaden asked me.

_Now, we wait. _I slowly closed my eyes to rest. At that moment, there was a quick noise and Merlin was standing in the center of the room with everyone else beside him.

"Well, that was quick!" Cid noted.

"Magic certainly has its conveniences," Merlin pointed out.

"So what's the scoop?" Hayner stepped forward. "You said there was some sort of catastrophe that these two know about?" He looked over at Kaden and me.

"Yeah, you better believe it!" Cid's eyes shot open. "It's huge! We gotta act quick!"

"Well, out with it, gramps!" Seifer yelled. "What's going on?"

"I think it'd be best to show you."

I looked up at him like he was nuts. _There's no way I'm even _attempting _to haul twelve people all the way across a whole world!_

* * *

><p>I attempted to haul twelve people all the way across a whole world. We piled five people onto my back, not with ease, let me just say. Then Cid had the bright idea of tying two large, wooden, trailer-like structures to my feet, one on each. The rest of the people distributed themselves among those. If just hearing this doesn't make you feel weighted down, let me tell you that there was no way I ever could've lifted this all off the ground, even without the weight of all the people included. It wasn't until I tried despairingly for five minutes to lift us off the ground that Merlin spoke up.<p>

"I could take us there with my magic, if we'd like to go that way."

We all stopped dead. I looked at him with eyes that read, "Why the hell didn't you say something before?"

"Why didn't we do that in the first place?" Hayner whined.

"I thought this was an experiment…" Merlin looked confused. On the inside, everyone simultaneously facepalmed. Leon outwardly did so.

Merlin waved his hands and with a _poof_, we all vanished. We reappeared by the cliff where the Solstices were. "Get down!" Leon whispered hoarsely, dropping onto his stomach and laying low to the ground. Everyone followed. The Solstices were awake now. The ones with wings soared freely, high above the castle ruins. "We're lucky they didn't see us! Thanks for the warning!"

"That's not even the half of them!" Cid hissed. "Over the edge of that cliff, there's absolutely _thousands _of them! It's like a whole army!"

Looking at the valley in broad daylight, I noticed how familiar it was. It was the chasm from my dream. I looked up warily at the Solstices in the sky._ Kaden, they're gonna sense us here! We gotta go somewhere else!_

_ Agreed. _Staying low to the ground, we both snuck off around the corner of a large rock structure. I stayed pressed against the wall, hiding in the shadows. The Solstices were still partly in sight above the crag.

_Kaden, before when you were talking about your power to see other people's hearts…do all Heartless have powers like that?_

_ Um, just Halfbloods, I think. Why?_

_ I've been having visions._

He looked at me in surprise. _Really?_

_ Yeah. At night, I have these dreams that happen in real life afterwards. Remember when my Solstice attacked me a few days ago? That had happened in a dream the night before._

_ Whoa! That's so cool!_

I grunted. _Yeah, it's helpful, but it's also scary. I saw that chasm in my dream and it was filled with the Solstices. I couldn't tell what they were at that point, but now I know for sure that that's where my dream took place. And somehow, I get the feeling that that's where the final battle is gonna be._

_ Could be. At least we know now and we can be prepared, right?_

I swallowed down as much worry as I could. _That's not all of it, though. At the end of the dream, there was a blinding light. It was _enormous_ and it shined across the entire world. What if the darkness loses, Kaden? I don't know if we can change things. I only see them before they come._

Kaden thought long and hard, but I could tell he didn't have a reassuring answer. _Well, all we can do is fight with our life and hope for the best. Maybe things'll work out somehow. _

"Hello, _Ricky and Slasher,_" a voice came from behind. "I see you found my army!"

We turned to see Melissa walking toward us. Sora was right next to her. Melissa had her Keyblade hanging at her side.

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><p>Wahaha, I just love cliffhangers. Alot. XD Anyway, I'll try to have the next chapter up in a few days! Hope you're enjoying the story :) I still can't read that first part of the chapter without my heart melting into a puddle XD I love Kaden. Anyway, please leave comments, questions, concerns, predictions, and anything else that you want to! Thanks for reading!<p> 


	16. Chapter 16

And so it begins...

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><p>"Don't hurt them, Melissa," Sora muttered, glancing nervously at the Keyblade in his companion's hand.<p>

"Only if they don't hurt us," she compromised, watching me closely. I stared straight into her eyes with determination. There was something sad behind her iron-willed mask. She broke eye contact after a moment. I frowned in shock. Did she just falter…?

Kaden tensed up, ready to defend us if need be, but showed no sign of taking the first step toward a battle. _Just don't move, _he told me. _Don't provoke her in any way._

"Put the key away, Melissa," Sora demanded, gritting his teeth. She glared at us as if deciding whether she should. What happened next was completely beyond my mind's control. I don't know why I did it, nor did anyone else, but I found myself bending over slightly in a bow. It wasn't a bow of worship or sub-ordinance. It was a bow of peace, a bow saying that no harm was meant here.

All three of them widened their eyes in surprise at this. I slowly straightened out again, looking at Melissa for reassurance that we were on the same page. She slowly and hesitantly relaxed, making Kaden sigh in relief when she finally sent the Keyblade away.

_What on earth was that? _Kaden asked me. I didn't answer him, because I had no idea myself. At that moment, Hayner and Roxas came around the corner. They stopped in surprise when they saw Melissa and Sora with us.

"Melissa?" Roxas froze.

"Sora?" Hayner stared incredulously. Sora looked away from them in shame. "Sora, you're here! We missed you, man!" Hayner ran up and hugged his friend affectionately. Sora just stood there looking at the ground, letting Hayner channel his clingy energy. "I'm so glad you came back to us!" Sora still said nothing.

"You're…joining our side?" Roxas cocked his head confusedly.

Melissa shook her head. "No. We were just coming to check up on the Solstices."

"Well, maybe _you_ were! Sora here is comin' on back to our team!" Hayner grinned at the brunette. "Right, buddy?"

The silence and lack of eye contact persisted. Hayner let go of him and instantly dropped his smile. "You're not here for us…are you?"

"I'm sorry, Hayner," Sora whispered.

Hayner took a step back as if recoiling, deep hurt apparent in his eyes. He looked off to the side. "It's OK. I understand."

Melissa turned toward Roxas. "We're really just here to check on everything." She walked forward, passing Roxas without looking at him. When they were back-to-back, Roxas said her name.

"Melissa." She stopped, slightly glancing back but neither one of them turning to face the other. "Be careful what you do with that kind of power."

She said nothing, not a word, then gave a brief pause before continuing to walk. Sora quickly followed her. As he passed Roxas, they momentarily locked eyes. Sora squeezed his eyes shut and looked away, quickly brushing past his former ally. Once he was past, Roxas' eyes changed, losing their usual, determined glare. The invisible knife of betrayal had taken yet another victim.

The rest of the crew came around the corner as Melissa and Sora headed that way. The group stopped and stared but Melissa and Sora just kept walking, never making eye contact. Leon, who was leading everyone, looked at Roxas questioningly. So did everyone else but no one said anything. Finally, Riku stepped forward and I'd never heard him talk so quietly in his life.

"What do we do now?"

Roxas stared at the ground a long time before he spoke. "…Nothing."

"What?" everyone gasped simultaneously.

"You're just giving up?" demanded Riku.

"Not giving up," Roxas countered. "Just facing the facts. I mean, what can we really do? It's over. That mob of Heartless in Twilight Town days ago were the last Heartless in the universe. And who knows how many we've lost since then? As soon as they show up again, the Solstices are gonna take them out. Melissa will make sure of that. Plus, maybe she _is _making the world a better place. What if nothing bad happens? Then she'll have achieved what we've been trying to do for years."

"But…what if it does?" Yuffie worried.

"Then there was nothing we could've done anyway," Roxas finished, clearly ending the argument right there. That was it. I didn't care what Roxas claimed. He was giving up. But somehow, that pain of despair in my chest that usually broke me down suddenly raised me up. I had never felt such a fire inside me before and somehow, at that moment, I decided I was never giving up, no matter what the cost was.

_Actually, there is something we can do. _I stood up tall, dead-set expression on my face. _We can fight back. We can fight back with everything we have, and maybe, just maybe, turn the tides around._

_ Fight? _Kaden asked. _What kind of fight are you thinking exactly?_

_ A war, _I answered. _If Melissa wants one, we'll give it to her._

"Alright, listen up!" I roared, stepping forward. "This isn't over and it won't be over until the world is saved or we're all dead, ok? We have more power than we're giving ourselves credit for and we're not alone either! There are others on our side." I knew none of them could understand me, but I didn't care. They'd gotten the message that I sure as hell wasn't admitting defeat. Roxas looked at me with understanding and the most subtle hint of hope in his eyes.

"I'm taking charge and we're all gonna listen up! Cid," I started, pointing at our tech-savvy friend. "I want you to go with Kaden back to Merlin's house and check up on the Heartless level, see where they're at right now."

_Kaden, go round up all the Heartless left, every single one. Start gathering an army. _

_ Yes ma'am! _he called, raising one blade to his head in a salute.

"Leon!" I turned to him very suddenly, startling him a bit. "You're with Cid. Help patrol the town and ask anyone if there have been Heartless around lately! We need info!" I pointed to Kaden to signal that he should follow him.

_Kaden, can you get these guys pointed in the right direction since they didn't understand a word of what I just said?_

_ Sure thing, _he grinned.

_Oh, and take Merlin, Tifa, Kairi, and Yuffie with you. Have them do as much research on the Solstices as they can. We need to know what we're up against._

I urged the four of them toward the other group. Riku seemed like he was about to protest, but stopped himself. I rolled my eyes. _Take lover-boy with you too._

Kaden smirked. I pushed Riku, who was hiding his excitement, toward Kaden. "The rest of you, you're with me," I announced, turning back to Roxas and company. "We need a closer look at the enemy's plans and strategies."

_Katie, you're-?_

_ Yup. We're doing some spying, _I smirked slyly.

_Not fair.._. He glowered.

_I need you gathering the Heartless, Kaden. You're better at getting them to listen._

_ I know, I know, _he replied. _It just sounds like you get the fun job._

_ Maybe I do, _I smirked. _Good luck, Kaden! _I called as he was leaving.

_You too!_

OK, now it was time to get to work. I looked at each of my friends, judging whether they were in on this or not. Roxas was completely ready, Hayner seemed pretty trusting, but Seifer and Rai were very skeptical.

Seifer crossed his arms and frowned. "Why are we blindly following a Heartless into battle?" he questioned. "We don't even know what it's trying to do!"

"It's trying to save the world," Hayner growled back. "That's what we're all trying to do."

"Yeah, but what is it expecting to _do _against a whole army?" Seifer threw his arms up. "Did you see how many monsters were in that valley and there's bound to be more out there too!"

"Well, this is better than sitting around and waiting for everyone to die!"

"You'd rather march straight into your own death?"

"If it saves everyone else!"

"It _won't_! Don't you get it? We can't win!"

"Alright, everyone _stop_!" screamed Roxas. The argument ceased. "We are not going to die, we're not going to admit defeat, and we _are _going to trust Ricky! She knows what she's doing."

Hayner smirked smugly in victory toward Seifer, then did a double take. "Wait! Ricky is a girl?"

"How do you know?" Seifer asked quizzically. "Did you check…?"

Roxas and I both snapped our heads toward him in horror. I stepped forward, black fire forming in my gut, and it took every ounce of resistance I had not to maul him.

Roxas scratched his head awkwardly. "No, Seifer, I didn't _check_…guys, I know this is probably hard to believe, but trust me on this. Ricky…is Katie."

The others' jaws dropped. They were speechless. I cocked my head at Roxas, wondering why he had decided to tell them after all, especially now of all times, when we were all looking impending doom straight in the face.

"I wasn't gonna tell anyone until everything was over, in case…something happened. I didn't want to hurt you guys like that. But if we ever needed hope, it's now. And Katie may just be the only thing keeping us going now."

The scariest part of what he said was that he was right.

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><p>After that little discussion, we snuck to the canyon. We all split up, Hayner and Roxas sneaking down into the chasm for a better look and Seifer and Rai staying atop to survey anything strange. I went partway down the rocky wall to listen to Sora and Melissa, who were standing near the cliff wall, out of view from above. I made sure to stay mostly of their sight, keeping close to large boulders that could serve as hiding spots if need be. My Heartless senses honed in on their conversation.<p>

"Well, this is it," Melissa sighed. "In two days, the Solstices will all be gathered and then…we leave."

That's what I needed to know. We only had two days to get everything ready.

"Are the Solstices doing all the work or are we going to fight too?" Sora asked.

"Well, I'm sure they can handle it-"

"I'm going to fight," Sora cut her off.

"OK," Melissa was taken aback. "We'll fight." There was a pause. "Sora…I'm sorry. About everything. If you don't wanna be on my side anymore, I understand."

Sora stood up. "Let's get one thing straight here, ok? I'm not on your side. I'm doing this for my reasons and I could care less about this 'perfect world' of yours. The darkness deserves to die, but that doesn't mean I'm turning my back on my friends. I'm on my own side, got it?"

Melissa opened her mouth to speak before realizing that it probably wouldn't do any good. Sora left, walking off to be by himself. Melissa sighed and curled her knees in to her chin. I quietly and sneakily crawled back up the cliff, flying off to tell Kaden that the war was about to begin.

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><p>And so the pre-climax builds! Hope you enjoyed :) Please review!<p> 


	17. Chapter 17

Well, this is really the last chapter before the big climax grande finale thing starts! It's so exciting! I hope you enjoy :)

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><p>"Look at this!" Cid pointed to his computer screen. We all gathered around. The map of the universe showed at least half of the Heartless population all gathering in one spot.<p>

_Kaden is doing his job, _I smiled.

"Whoa! That's so many Heartless!" Yuffie cheered.

"Well, there are at least twice that many Solstices out there, but it's definitely something," Leon added. "We may just have a chance."

Kaden warped in at that point. _Hey, how's everything looking here?_

_ Good, _I walked over to him. _You're doing an awesome job. We have two more days until we have to move out._

_ Two days? _Kaden's eyes widened. _That's it?_

_ Yeah, that's when Melissa is planning on letting the birds out of the coop. Don't worry, I'll help you prepare._

"So, how did the spying go? Any useful info?" Tifa asked our crew.

"They've been training, y'know?" Rai answered. "They were sparring each other and stuff, to practice."

"Hayner and I went in for a closer look," Roxas picked it up from there. "We were studying their fighting style. They seem to beat back with offensive attacks and go for the kill as quickly as possible. If we can dodge and outsmart them, we can gain the upper hand."

"Also, they seemed to go for the body and throat mostly. I don't know if those are their weak spots or if they just attack there all the time, but watch out for that when fighting them," Hayner instructed everyone.

"Good work," Leon nodded.

"Let's see, um, we were researching the heart and its tendencies," Merlin spoke up. "Along with properties of light to see if there was any sort of clue there that might help us."

"And we found that light tries to drive out darkness because it views it as a threat," Kairi explained. "But darkness only tries to swallow the light because it's then being threatened. If neither one of them made a move, they would coexist peacefully and there would be no problem."

"So, you mean we should try to reason Melissa out of a battle…?" Roxas affirmed.

"Well, I don't think that's going to happen," Riku shook his head. "But we shouldn't rashly leap into anything. Wait to see when she's going to strike. We don't want to be the cause of the bloodshed."

"Bloodshed?" Yuffie paled. "I didn't think Heartless or Solstices had blood."

"No, but people do."

"Riku…"

"Look, not everyone can make it out of this unscathed. Some of us are going to get hurt. Deep down, we all know that."

"Yeah, it's just kinda scary when you put it into words." Yuffie rubbed her arm uneasily.

"This is no time to be scared," Riku told her. "We have to be as fearless and unwavering as possible."

"I know that but…I guess what I mean wasn't that it's _scary_. Just…lonely. This is probably the last time all of us will be here together like this."

No one denied it. Not even me, even though I wanted to. This was probably the last time I'd ever see everyone again. We were going to fight with all our might, but I wasn't expecting many Heartless to make it out of this. I wished they could, but it wasn't looking likely.

_Alright, that's enough wallowing in despair, _I shook all the thoughts from my head. _Let's get to work. We don't have much time._

Kaden nodded. _I'll go round up the rest of the troops. _He glanced at the computer screen briefly to get one last look at where they were, then warped away. I got everyone else focused back on research. We looked over old texts and read documents on Heartless and experiments with human hearts. Nothing seemed to be of much help. There was just a lot of stuff about light and darkness making up everything, along with a story of how light and darkness began. They didn't seem to be things that would help us win a universe-saving war.

After hours of pointless reading, Kaden finally appeared again, opening a large Corridor of Darkness that multiple people could fit through. _Bring everyone here. I wanna show you something._

I looked over at the others, suggesting that they follow me instead of wasting any more time. We all got up and filed into the swirling portal of darkness. Everyone seemed suspicious of it, but they went through anyway. I arrived on the other side first, stepping into the midday sunlight of Twilight Town. Everyone else came in behind me to find themselves in front of the mansion. We all gaped as we saw hordes of Heartless that spread from the mansion's yard into the Woods, which was teeming with Heartless. Upon our entrance, they all looked over and immediately stood up. Kaden walked out from behind us, beaming.

_I already gave them a little briefing on what we have to do. You're in charge from here. _

_ Me? _I jumped up and stared him down. _Why me?_

_ I was just the recruiter. You're the captain, Katie. And so, Captain Ricky of the Royal Heartless Guard, I present to you…your army! _Kaden stood up tall and put his blade against his head again in a royal salute. The rest of the Heartless did the same. I stared out at them, at these Heartless, at_ my _Heartless that were considered monsters but we're going to give up their lives to save everyone. Most of them probably didn't know what was really going to happen since they couldn't comprehend intelligent communication, but as long as they were there, they'd make a difference. I raised my own wing to my head to salute my troops back, calling out over all of them: _Let the training begin._

"That…is the weirdest thing I've ever seen," Hayner noted.

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><p>I lunged forward with teeth bared. My opponent, a Red Nocturne, hovered backward timidly. <em>Don't let me reach you! Just keep your distance until you have the advantage, then strike! <em>The Red Nocturne hovered out of reach and circled me, watching me closely. I growled and stared it down, trying to intimidate it. Instead of fleeing, it sent a fireball into my face. I stumbled back and shook away the attack. _Good work! There you go! _

I headed over toward Kaden, who was training with some Zip Slashers, smaller variations of his own species, the Dual Blade. All three Zip Slashers came in at him as a team. Kaden blocked two of the attacks from the sides, using one arm for each, then ducked under the Heartless that flew overhead. Kaden pushed the two blades away from him that were parrying against his own arms, then went after the single enemy. It managed to block each swing he threw as the two others ran up from behind and knocked him over. One put a foot down on his body to pin him, pointing a blade at his throat.

_Wow, nice job! _Kaden cheered. The Zip Slasher let him up. _I want you three working as a team unit when the battle comes. _He told them to continue practicing with each other, then came over to me. _What's up? How's everything going?_

I looked out over the field in front of the mansion. Groups or pairs of Heartless were all sparring each other, practicing up for the real thing. I shook my head. _Look at us. We're an army, Kaden. We are literally leading an army to save the universe._

_ …You nervous?_

_ Well…a little. I just don't want anything to go wrong._

_ I know what you mean. I hope you and Sora get to go back to the Islands together after this, safe and sound._

_ That's not what I meant. I hope everything works out for…everyone else. I hope the universe doesn't end. I've already accepted my own fate, Kaden. _I chuckled slightly, which was an odd gesture but somehow felt right to me.

_You may not necessarily…die._

_ I know, _I shrugged. _But I can't expect not to, either._

"Hey! Ricky, get over here!" Tifa yelled. I looked toward the group. They were all there, the crew from Twilight Town, my friends from the Islands, and our Hollow Bastion team. I smiled at them, the ones I knew and loved so much, and ran over to them.

"Here, Leon! Get ready!" Yuffie bounced up and down excitedly. "Ricky, go get Leon! Kill him! Pretend you're a Solstice!"

"Kill?" Leon gawked at her. "Don't tell a Heartless to kill me! We are just practicing!"

_Oh, so that's the game, _I thought. _Try to play enemy, huh?_ I advanced slowly toward him, hunched over to strike at his throat. Leon held his gunblade upright, staring me down and watching me closely. After a moment, I went for it. With a roar, I lunged and bared my teeth, swooping straight for his neck. With a cry, he twisted his weapon horizontally, catching it in my mouth. He held his ground and pushed back with all his might, forcing me away. I took a few steps back to free myself from the lock, then swung my tail around to smash him across the head. He ducked under it and jabbed with his blade. I hovered above it just in time, slamming down in an attempt to crush him under my feet. He leapt aside before I landed.

By now, almost every Heartless around us was watching. Leon yelled and leapt at my neck with his gunblade out horizontally, bracing it with both hands. I roared as the force knocked me over and he raised his gunblade above his head, the blow that would end the match. "Give up?" Leon smirked at me. No! This wasn't over! My soldiers were watching and I was their leader. There was no way I could lose in front of them.

I leapt up, throwing him off of me and taking him by surprise. I bounded forward, setting one foot over him to keep him from escaping, and opened my mouth with a flurry of flames already dancing at the ready. He looked up at me in terror. I instantly stopped and closed my mouth. I smirked at him. Then I quietly stepped off and let him get up. He nodded at me, the equivalent of a handshake between us. All the Heartless still watched silently.

"See this Heartless right here?" Leon called out to the whole group of them. "This is your leader, the one who is fearless and ready to lead you all into battle. Will you follow?" He turned to me and whispered, "Never get cocky in combat. It never works." My eyes widened at the familiar line. He knew too? Leon winked before heading off with the others again. I looked incredulously at Roxas, who gave a small smile before going off to train again.

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><p>That night, Kaden and I slept by the mansion with the other Heartless while everyone else spent the night at Merlin's like usual. Tomorrow. Tomorrow was the last day before the battle. Every time I thought about it, my stomach did cartwheels through my body and I couldn't tell if it was nervousness, fear, doubt, or a little of all three. I had the same dream again, of the chasm and the blinding light, but this time, there were voices at the end when the blinding light filled my mind. They were familiar voices, but I couldn't quite place who they belonged to. I didn't wake with a start afterward like usual, either. The light just sort of faded until everything was darkness and then I proceeded to sleep until morning. The undivided rest was very nice.<p>

In the morning, Leon and the gang were back, bright and early. The Heartless got back to practicing and Kaden and I joined everyone else to strategize. We needed a game plan. Cid had mapped out our battlefield and figured how much space we had. He also did some calculations that could help us.

"If every Heartless takes out three or four Solstices each before they're destroyed, then that should be all of them!" Cid exclaimed.

"Three or four?" Hayner gaped. "We're outnumbered by that much?"

"Hey, don't worry 'bout it!" Cid flicked his nose. "Roxas here will take out at least fifty Heartless' share of 'em!"

"Um...fifty? Sure! Why not?" Roxas played along with unease.

"Look, let's not worry about it," Seifer assured everyone. "We've handled bad stuff before and we've always gotten each other through it. If we're all together on this, there's no way we can fail."

"Ooh, look who's getting all sappy!" Hayner beamed in mockery.

"Shut up, Hayner!" Seifer roared, clenching his teeth together. Hayner laughed and laughed, ignoring his companion's anger.

"Well, at least we're still cheerful," Yuffie pointed out.

"That, or insane," Leon shook his head. After that, we got down to strategizing. We laid out who would strike where and how many troops each sector would have. We walked through the beginning of the battle and where everyone needed to be at that point, then went through how we would branch off. Everything seemed like it would work, as long as our plan didn't fall through. If it did, well, we would just have to wing it. I prayed it wouldn't come to that.

We explained the plan at great lengths to the Heartless. Who knows how much of it they actually picked up? Luckily, many of them out there were other Halfbloods who could comprehend complicated ideas like we could. Then Cid took a group of people to various other worlds to pick up as many donated hearts as possible. Kaden and I went searching too. However, we literally needed enough food to feed an army. So naturally, no matter how much I despised it, we had to go hunting. We came back with mountains of hearts so everyone would have their strength for tomorrow. I found that I was hating myself again. I was sick of being a monster.

All the Heartless trained hard that day. We all turned in early so we could be sure to have a full night's rest. Our strength was at its peak, our worries were shoved to the back of our minds, and we were all set. Now all we could do was wait. And hope.

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><p>Thank you so much to everyone who reads and reviews this story. Please leave comments, critiques, etc. :)<p> 


	18. Chapter 18

Well, let the final battle begin.

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><p>I awoke to the scent of fresh danger. My stomach fluttered, but not with hunger. Today was the day. I perked up my ears, scanning the area. All the Heartless were still asleep. I got up, stretched, gave a big yawn, and spread my wings. I silently flitted into the air, getting a quick flight in to loosen everything up.<p>

The troops slowly woke up a little at a time. They all just sort of stood there, waiting. There was nothing else to do. It wasn't long before Roxas and the others came. We ran over the game plan one more time before we departed.

"Well…let's move out," Riku ordered.

They went on ahead to teleport over to Hollow Bastion. We waited a few minutes to make sure they'd be there before us, then we all warped to the battlefield with the Corridors of Darkness. When we arrived all at once, we saw the army we were up against. Half of the Great Maw was completely taken up by Solstices and many more lined the top of the cliff on the other side. Immediately upon our entrance, the Solstices tensed up, already awaiting battle. Roxas, Riku and the rest of the team stood in front of the Heartless, who were scattered throughout our side. We filled almost half of the ground in the huge canyon, but there was ample space left. The Solstices took up at least that much room and they were packed in tight, not to mention the group on top of the rock wall.

_Ignore the numbers,_ Kaden instructed. _Just focus on the battle._

Melissa and Sora stood in front of their band of warriors. No one said anything for quite a few, tense seconds. Riku finally made the first move and stepped forward.

"Everyone, look around them," he called loud enough to be heard across the valley. "Here we have those whose hearts are light, and those whose hearts are dark. We're really just brothers and sisters, we're two halves of a whole. Solstices, you wouldn't exist without these Heartless. But Heartless, without the radiant light, you couldn't come into being either. So why are we fighting? We all wish for the same thing, am I right? We want a safe world for people to live in, without fear or pain. The Heartless can endanger people's safety, it's true, but without it, we're in danger as well. So neither one of us is good or bad. There is no good or evil here! Only power and two dreams that can't coexist."

Neither side said anything for awhile as they thought about Riku's words. He stepped back into the line of his companions. Kairi worriedly squeezed his hand. We all waited. "I don't expect to stop the fight," he whispered. "But I had to do something."

Melissa seemed to be pondering something before she too stepped forward and spoke. "You're right, Riku. Perhaps none of us here are evil. But you're also right in saying that both dreams alive in everyone here today cannot coexist. Only one of them can come into being. So…I'm sorry. But I _will _fight for what I believe!"

She swung her arm down at her side, calling up her Keyblade. The Solstices screeched and began to charge forward. Sora stared straight ahead, a furious glare on his face, as he advanced with Ultima Weapon in his hand.

_OK, this is it! _I yelled. _Everyone, remember their place! Don't back down! Keep fighting until the very end! We're not giving up! Aerial troops, let's move out! NOW! LET'S GO! _

I shot straight up into the sky and rocketed forward toward the space above the oncoming army. All the flying Heartless followed behind me. The flying Solstices faced us head-on, coming our way. _Defense! Get ready! _I called. Just as we approached them, I swooped downward sharply, diving below them and shooting toward the ground. Half of the troops following me did the same, while the others kept flying straight at the Solstices, smashing through them and beginning the aerial battle. I had no time to look back and see if the Heartless were ok. There could be no distractions.

As we got closer and closer to the Solstices on the ground, I called, _Ready…..FIRE! _I spewed smoldering, dark flames from my mouth at the enemies, swooping back up to avoid hitting them as I did so. All the Heartless behind me did the same, shooting magic spells and orbs of energy. Clumps of Solstices screeched and disintegrated as the high-powered attacks exploded on the rocky ground. Melissa looked up at my brigade of flying Heartless and hurled her Keyblade into the group. It took out a couple of us. Some of the Solstices began to aim attacks toward the sky as well. I frantically weaved around them, hoping the Heartless could do the same.

_Get out of here! _I yelled, flying as high as I could into the sky so I was out of reach. We all got out of range and then the Heartless went over to assist their other flying comrades. I turned sharply and darted back over to our team. They had all charged forward to meet the army of Solstices and a violent war began below. I flew low over the battlefield, scanning for any trouble. A group of caped Solstices who each wielded two, frightening knives leapt at Seifer and Rai. Rai dodged their attacks and smacked them away, but there were too many and they kept coming. Seifer swung his Bo staff around, blocking the incoming strikes. He then jabbed it to the side, destroying one Solstice, then jabbed it to the other side to take out another. What he didn't see in time was the one that was leaping right for his face.

I dove in and ripped it apart with my talons. Seifer jumped back in shock. Another of them sliced at my gut. I stepped back out of range, blasting it with my flaming breath. I looked around. I could have sworn there was one more….It jumped onto my back from behind and set its blades in front of my throat. I roared and tried to throw it off as I felt pressure from the knives pushing against my neck. Rai jumped onto my back and bashed its head in with his fist. He leapt down with a proud grin. I mentally thanked him.

I immediately soared off to help the others. Roxas was fighting multiple Solstices at once, but he seemed to doing fine. Riku was holding his own. Kairi was casting magic every which way and gulping down Ethers like an addict. I flew over to Kaden, who was facing a horde of crazed, monkey Solstices. I landed beside him and smirked. _Need some help?_

The monkeys all leapt at once. I braced myself and began chomping as they fell towards me. Kaden jumped into the air and started hacking with his blades. The suckers had quite some claw on them and I felt scratches opening on my skin everywhere. I whipped from side to side to throw them off of me, whacking the few that remained on my back with my tail. They landed on the ground and regrouped. I hunched over, anticipating their next move. They all pounced as a group again. Kaden shot through the group in the air, cutting through half of them. I jumped up to meet them, slicing some of them apart with the sharp edge of my wing. I moved out of the way of the others so that they missed and fell back to the ground. I turned and shot more black fire. It swallowed them up.

"Riku!" Kairi screamed. My head snapped in the direction of her voice. A large, white Solstice with small wings and a huge sword in one hand dove at Riku. It swung its weapon and sliced him deeply across the arm. He yelped and winced, holding his wound. I roared and shot over toward the enemy, launching fiery breath at it. The Solstice dodged it and came at me with a deadly swing. It grazed the side of my neck but didn't do too much damage at all. I growled and lunged with my teeth bared. It flew back to dodge me, but I managed to clamp onto its arm. It pulled away in pain, suddenly disappearing from sight. I looked around in confusion. Just then, a circle of blue flames began to dance around me and a shady mist formed. Riku jumped and pushed me out of the way just as the enemy reappeared and sliced through the ring with its sword. We both landed safely on the ground, but Riku's arm was starting to bleed badly now. I beckoned Kairi over before preparing to fight the Solstice yet again. An Air Soldier dove at the opponent, but it simply turned and cut the Heartless in half. With this distraction, I throttled into the air and clawed the enemy apart.

I very faintly started to tire. I hovered high above the battle to survey everything and help out anyone else who was in trouble. There was a flash and suddenly I was plummeting from the air. I smashed into the ground, rolling over multiple times before being able to get up. My other half rolled across the ground away from me and got up, hissing. _Alright, this ends now, _I thought. I let out a battle cry to counter the Solstice's screech. We eyed each other up and slowly circled around, seeing who would make the first move. _Wait for it, _I told myself. _Wait for the attack…_

It came. My other lunged forward to slam into me. I nimbly did a sidestep and now had a clear shot at its back. I spewed flames that scorched it and left huge sear marks. It howled in agony and turned around angrily. It took another lunge. I dodged this one too, but it turned and went for another attack before I was ready. Its teeth sank into my neck. I screamed and fell to the ground, panting. I looked up dizzily to see it pounce over me and come down with its talons out. I quickly rolled to the side and leapt up. My throat throbbed with pain. I was pretty sure it was bleeding really badly too. _Focus, stay focused. _The Solstice took another rush towards me. Another careless rush. I ducked under its snapping teeth and headbutted it in the chest. It was thrown backward, landing painfully on the ground. Without a moment's hesitation, I leapt at it with claws trained at its neck. I thought I had it. But just before I could make contact, a fireball from above exploded down onto it and blew it up. My Solstice disappeared right before my eyes. My only chance of becoming human again was just destroyed.

I was in shock for a moment, staring down at the ground wide-eyed. I looked up to the source of the attack. A Red Nocturne hovered above but it was quickly destroyed by an aerial Solstice which then flew off in search of more battles. I stood there in shock. It was gone. My other half was literally gone. "Katie, you're hurt!" Kairi called, running over and casting a Cura spell. I hardly even noticed. I started breathing heavier and a wave of rage suddenly exploded in me. I roared deafeningly loudly and shot immediately into the sky. I went on a rampage, blasting Solstices mercilessly and tearing others apart. After at least a few minutes of blowing off steam, I landed down on the ground, panting and clenching my teeth. I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around. Sora stood across from me.

He still had a determined scowl on his face and his weapon was at his side. I shook my head. _No, Sora…No, I'm not gonna fight you. _Sora took a deep breath. "Sorry Ricky. But I have to destroy the darkness and I have to destroy you. If the Heartless are gone, no one will ever have to face the pain and loss that I did. That would be the perfect world." With that, he let out a war cry and jumped forward, swinging his massive Keyblade downward. I stepped back just before it hit me.

"Sora, it's me!" I roared but he swung again. I did another back step. I kept backing away from his blade but he became more and more frustrated. He yelled and stabbed his key forward. I barely hovered above it before it connected. "Fire!" he yelled, pointing the weapon at me. My eyes widened as the spell flew right at me. It exploded and sent me hurtling to the ground. I quickly got back up to see him run and swing horizontally at me. I grabbed the key in my mouth, struggling to hold out against him. He pushed harder and harder on the weapon, forcing me back and draining my strength.

_Katie! _I saw Kaden come rushing over to help.

_Kaden, go get help! _I screamed. Sora finally broke through my guard and I stumbled backward, toppling over onto my back. Sora jumped at me and raised his Keyblade. I thrust both feet outward and kicked him away. I got up in a panicked frenzy and adrenaline rocketed through my veins. I panted a hundred miles a minute and looked over at Sora, afraid that the onslaught would keep coming. He got up from my defensive strike, panting as well. I stared at him pleadingly. He just stared back with the same look of contempt. Gathering himself again, he charged at me once more. I braced myself, unwilling to fight back.

"Sora, stop!" Roxas screamed, running up to the battle with Kaden beside him. "It's Katie!"

Sora froze at the mention of my name. He looked at Roxas, shocked, then looked back at me. "Trust me, Sora," Roxas continued. "That's Katie. She didn't die! She just became a Heartless! She's been with us the whole time!"

Sora stared at me speechless, dismissing his Keyblade. I looked him in the eye, wondering what was going on in his head. Suddenly, he broke down into tears and threw his arms around me. Just feeling his touch again calmed me and made me feel whole again. I closed my eyes and wrapped my wings around him in my special, little, awkward, wyvern hug. However, I opened my eyes again in surprise when a flash of light shot out of my body. I squinted as the light blinded me and when it cleared, I was at Sora's height again. We broke out of our hug and he looked at me in shock. "Katie…you're-"

I held my hands out and looked at them. My _hands! _I had hands again! I was human! I cheered and did a little happy dance. Sora was beaming like I had never seen him smile before. Roxas and Kaden happily watched from the side.

Sora chuckled slightly. "But…I don't get it. How did you become human again? I thought you had to find the other half of your heart."

I shrugged and smiled. "I guess I did."

He teared up and hugged me again. "I was so lonely," he sniffed. "But you were with me the whole time."

"And I always will be," I told him. "But you know…um…it'll be kinda hard to kick ass if we're stuck together like this."

He laughed and let go. "Alright, then let's go!" He drew his Keyblade again, a smile still on his face.

"That's the Sora I know," I grinned, drawing my own sword. I turned to Roxas and Kaden. "Let's go!"

Just then, Melissa walked up behind us. Roxas and Kaden readied themselves for any unexpected attacks. Sora and I turned around. Melissa looked at me in surprise.

"That's Katie," Sora told her. "The one I told you about who was in the castle with us. She's back again. And now I realize maybe the Heartless aren't so bad. If they're just people like her who were taken by the darkness, then they're not really harmful after all. They're just like us."

Melissa said nothing. Sora continued talking, surprised that she had no argument against this. "And I know that a lot of the Heartless aren't like that and they kill freely. But we'll get rid of those Heartless. What if the ones who still had hearts were the only ones left? What if we could find a way to make sure the darkness only ever took half of a person's heart? Then we'd be safe from universe-wide disaster _and _from Heartless attacks! That could work! Think about it…"

Melissa just looked at the ground. "Hey," I spoke up. "Don't sweat it. I'm not a freaky, heart-eating killer anymore! No harm done!" I joked and gave a small laugh, trying to lighten the mood. Why was she so quiet?

"I'm sorry," she whispered so quietly that it was almost inaudible.

I frowned. "Sorry for what? You don't have to apologize for having a different opinion than us."

She shook her head slightly. "No. I'm sorry for turning you into a Heartless and hurting all your friends. I was the one who destroyed the castle. I had no idea anyone was in there."

I stepped back in shock. Everyone else gasped. The building really hadn't fallen on its own? Melissa had destroyed it?

"I was just trying to get rid of the Heartless inside," she confessed. "I meant no harm to anyone."

I opened my mouth to say something, but Sora spoke first. "You? You destroyed the castle...? Well, you _did _do harm! Look at all the pain you caused our group! And what if she actually had died? Huh?"

"Sora, calm down," I told him. He ignored me.

He brandished his Keyblade. "I swore I'd avenge her but now I see that destroying the Heartless won't fulfill that! You're the one I was after!"

"No, Sora! Wait!" I called. He ran forward to strike Melissa as she called her Keyblade up and readied for battle.

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><p>Wahaha, what will happen? You will just have to wait and see ;D Hope you enjoyed! Please leave comments and critiques like usual :) Thanks again for all the support!<p> 


	19. Chapter 19

Part 2 of the final battle begins!

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><p>"No, Sora! Wait!" He was already upon Melissa, swinging vertically with as much force as he could. Melissa gritted her teeth and guarded it with both hands. She struggled against his blade but managed to push him away from her. He cast Thunder. The bolts struck Melissa from above. She winced and countered with her own Thunder spell, which Sora rolled away from just in time. I summoned up my sword and rushed into the battle.<p>

They sent blows back and forth, each of them blocked by their target. I reached them as their Keyblades were about to clash in the middle. I flipped over the center of the attack, stabbing my sword down between the keys to block both attacks. This caught them both by surprise and they stopped the attacks momentarily.

"Both of you, cut it out!" I yelled. "Fighting each other isn't gonna help anything!" Just then, a Solstice dove in at me. I quickly turned and ran it through with my sword. A Heartless pounced for Melissa. She killed it. Then we each got distracted by our own fights as more and more enemies swarmed us. Roxas immediately leapt into action and fought alongside me and Sora. Kaden dashed right into the oncoming mob and sliced through as many Solstices as he could.

"Kaden, get out of there!" I called, warding off a mob of small, bug-like Solstices. He didn't stop attacking directly in the center of the group. I sliced across the line of foes in front of me and ran to the middle to help Kaden. Together, we took out the entire horde of them from inside. I grinned. "We still make a pretty sweet team." He nodded.

"Hayner, look out!" Roxas yelled. A short distance away, Seifer, Rai, and Hayner were surrounded by a ring of mummy-like Solstices with enormous claws. One sprung right for Hayner. He beat it away with his club. It instantly got back up and tried another attack. Hayner guarded it but the force propelled him backward onto the ground. The mummy leapt in the air and brought both claws straight down to stab him through.

"NOOOOO!" Roxas screamed, running forward to save his friend but knowing he couldn't make it in time. The mummy's claws connected. However, it wasn't Hayner that they hit. Seifer cried out in pain as he leapt between the two and he fell to the ground, bleeding. "No!" Hayner yelled, jumping up and beating the Solstice hard enough to kill it. He ran over to Seifer. The blonde lay on the ground with two sets of enormous claw marks running down his torso. Rai destroyed the last Solstice and ran over to the two of them in horror. Roxas stopped partway to them and I watched sadly from a distance.

Hayner knelt down beside Seifer's dying body. "Hey, you OK, Seifer? C'mon, man! You can pull through this!"

Seifer grimaced. "You…gotta keep fighting, Hayner. This war needs you."

"Oh, c'mon! Cut the sappiness!" Hayner yelled. "Why the hell did you do that?"

"My life never meant anything. I was just a bum on the street. I guess this was my one act to say that I had something, just one thing even, that was noble in all I ever did."

"Seifer, bro, you were our leader! You were our pal, y'know? What am I gonna do without you?" Rai's face was twisted up in pain.

"Well, you're not gonna cry, that's for sure," Seifer told him. I could tell he was slowly losing his strength. "You're gonna go save the world and then you're gonna go home and tell Fuu and Vivi that we're both heroes, ya got that?"

Rai nodded gravely. "And…tell Olette and Pence…that I say hi," Seifer told Hayner. His eyes slowly slipped closed. Hayner squinted his eyes shut. I felt a tear slowly slip down my cheek. Rai clenched his fists, shaking with anger, then let out an enormous cry and charged toward the war again. Hayner and Roxas followed. Before Sora, Kaden, or I could join them, Yuffie jumped backward, landing in front of us.

"Look out!" she called, hurling a shuriken at a very large, draconic Solstice. It roared and chomped at her. She leapt backwards again to avoid it. Tifa was on its head, beating it in the eyes. It roared in annoyance and whipped her off of it. She landed on her feet, crouched over and ready to leap right back into the fray again. As she and Yuffie dashed right for the monster's face, Sora and I jumped onto its back while Kaden attacked from the underside. Within seconds, the monster howled and disappeared.

"Yay for teamwork!" Yuffie cheered.

I suddenly felt a huge force hit me directly in the gut. I yelped and flew backward. I got up and looked around but found no assailant. Sora turned to me. "Katie, are you OK?" At that moment, he let out a cry too and was lifted up into the air. He struggled against something around his waist but there was nothing there.

Kaden didn't hesitate to rush forward and attack the air with his blades. There was a shriek and something came into view for a split second. Sora was released and he landed on the ground. "It's some sort of invisible creature!" he cried.

"Kaden must have been able to sense it," I noted.

"Kaden?"

"Also known as Slasher," I explained, rushing forward with my sword in hand. I swung at the spot where Kaden had struck, but hit nothing except air. "It moved…" I growled, looking around. Everyone fell silent and listened. Tifa closed her eyes as if concentrating on something. None of us heard anything. A few moments passed. Tifa's eyes shot open and she whipped around with a hard kick. She hit something solid.

"There it is!" cried Yuffie, hurling her giant ninja star. That connected as well. We all leapt into action. Sora and Kaden struck its stomach together. Tifa and I went for the head. The creature became dizzy from our blows but got irritated and smacked us both away. The monster slowly became visible as Kaden and Sora damaged it more and more. It turned out to be some giant lizard. It glared angrily at its opponents who were stabbing it from below. It raised a large, reptilian foot. My heart raced.

"Get out of there!" I cried. Sora rolled out from under the monster as it stomped downward. Kaden was still underneath. The clawed foot crushed him under it. "KADEN!" I wailed, running forward to tear the Solstice apart. It lifted its foot and my friend slowly faded into nothing. I screamed bloody murder, stabbing my sword into the beast's gut over and over. Its eyes lolled back into its head and it fell to the ground, but I kept jabbing again and again, tears streaming down my cheeks. Its body turned to white tendrils that slowly snaked into the air, but even then, I swung my blade over and over. Once it was gone, I threw my weapon on the ground and doubled over. "Kaden…no…why…"

Sora came over to comfort me. I sobbed into his shoulder. Of everyone out here fighting today, Kaden was the last person that should have died. I deserved to die more than he did. All he ever did was help others and protect people. I was worried about what would happen to me the whole time. I lay pathetically in Sora's arms as a total wreck. I hoped with all my might that Heartless got some sort of heaven or afterlife, because he sure as hell deserved one.

Yuffie and Tifa watched in mournful silence. "Hey, what's going on?" Yuffie asked after a moment. She looked around confusedly. I looked up too. The battlefield was completely devoid of Heartless. Nothing remained except us and Melissa. The Solstices were heading off in a different direction, almost as if they were retreating.

"Are they running away…?" wondered Sora.

"Well, I guess if the battle is over in their mind…" Yuffie gulped. "Did we fail?"

Tifa had paled. "It's not over. They're heading for the town."

"What? Why would they be going into the town now?" I asked, getting up and readying my sword again. Tifa didn't answer but she dashed after them as fast as she could. We all instinctually followed. Melissa watched us in confusion. Sora glared at her as we passed. I made sure to stay between the two of them.

"Wait!" she called. "Why are the Solstices heading for the town now?"

"Because that's where the people are," Leon told her. "There's darkness in every heart. Those monsters aren't gonna stop until _every _bit of darkness is snuffed out!"

Melissa drew her key. "Fine, then I'll help stop them."

Sora was wary. "I wanted to destroy the Heartless! I didn't want all this!" she explained. Then she began to run toward the village and we turned and did the same. When we got there, it was already chaos. People were running from their homes and screaming while the Solstices destroyed everything and began to kill all the townspeople.

"This is bad!" I yelled. "Destroy every single one of them and do not let any more innocent lives be taken!" I dashed at one of the enemies and killed it just before it could hurt a mother and her baby. "Spread out through the whole town!" Everyone immediately followed my order. Seifer's and Kaden's faces kept running through my head, but I pushed them away. It was hard enough to fight while I was falling apart inside. I couldn't fall apart on the outside too.

Sora stayed with me while everyone else went to protect other parts of town. Neither of us said anything to each other as we battled our way through the neighborhood, taking out every Solstice in sight. We pushed deeper into the town. That's where things were really bad. Bodies and pieces of buildings and houses lay everywhere. I tried to ignore the people on the ground that were still alive, moaning for help. There was nothing we could do for them at this point.

A Solstice with a giant, living shield popped up out of nowhere and rammed into me. Sora quickly turned back to me before the creature attacked again, jabbing its massive shield toward him. There was a blur as Melissa shot in front of him and parried the attack. The force launched her backward into a wall. Sora sprung out of the way of the next attack and shot a Fira. It hit the monster in the face, angering it. The Solstice swung around in a circle. Sora barely managed to block the forceful attack. I was already back in there to help him. I swung twice at the foe, but both attacks were blocked. I cartwheeled away from another thrust of its shield.

Sora hit it in the back, pushing it forward but hardly injuring it due to the armor all over its body. It turned to him and was about to smash its shield down on him when Melissa's key crashed into its arm. It howled and looked over at her. She scowled. "Get over here, you big coward!" she screamed. It bellowed at this and charged full-on towards her. She called her key back and hurled it once again. This time, it stabbed right into the creature's head. The Solstice stumbled in its sprint and began to topple forward, but it still reached Melissa before it fell over and disappeared. Its shield collided with her gut and pinned her against the wall behind her, smashing her body completely. She whimpered and immediately went limp. I could almost hear her insides being crushed. I stumbled over to a wall for support and vomited all over the ground. Sora swallowed hard, looking incredibly sick himself.

I shook uncontrollably as I tried to steady myself. Melissa's body had crumpled to the ground and the shield had disappeared with its bearer. I uneasily walked toward Sora. "She saved us," I whispered. Kairi's yell broke us out of our stupor.

"Let's go," Sora demanded quickly and he ran off in the direction of Kairi's yell. I stopped by Melissa's body before following. Despite her horrible demise, she still seemed at peace. Maybe she was. Everything was finally over. For the first time, she could rest. I smiled sadly and hurried on after Sora.

When we got to the section of town that Kairi, Riku, and Roxas were in, things got even worse. The people were still running for their lives here and we had to defend them all and kill the Solstices at the same time, which outnumbered us by at least twenty. We couldn't stop fighting for an instant, because someone was always in danger. I started leaping around like a madman, striking one down and hurrying to the next. I was so exhausted after a mere minute that my lungs were burning, but I couldn't slow down. We all pushed through the assault, managing to keep all the townsfolk alive. They hid in whatever buildings were left or behind piles of rubble. Then we were clear to take out all the enemies in the area without worrying about hurting them.

It had to have been five or ten minutes later that the chaos finally stopped. My chest heaved in and out, my lungs ripping as much oxygen out of the air as they could. Roxas leaned on his Keyblade for support and Kairi nearly passed out and had to sit down. Riku flopped down against a shattered wall and took long, raspy breaths. They had been over here twice as long as we were, if not more. I couldn't even imagine what a workout that would be.

"Stop them!" I heard Yuffie's voice call through the air. A swarm of Solstices cascaded down the road we were on and we all disdainfully braced ourselves. Kairi stepped ahead of us to use a spell, but then collapsed to her hands and knees. "I…can't," she panted. "We're out of Ethers."

Riku grabbed her and moved her aside where she wouldn't be trampled. Then he yelled and charged straight at the mob. We all followed suit, somehow finding that last bit of energy inside us. We cut a lot of the foes down to size, so to speak, but there were still quite a few that made it past us. There were too many for us to handle. Rai and Hayner joined us against the enemies in the street. Leon and the others charged down the street after the surviving group of them while we duked it out with the ones still behind.

"These are the last of the Solstices!" Tifa called to us as she ran with Leon and Yuffie.

"They're heading toward the cemetery?" Yuffie was baffled. "Why would they go there?"

"Because it's a dark place," Leon guessed. "They're going to destroy every reminder of darkness in this world. Not just the supposedly evil things, but all the dark, sorrowful things too."

I wanted to go help them but I was needed here too. Another one of the Solstices with a giant shield confronted me. I gritted my teeth and leapt right at it, trying to stab through its face. It raised its shield to protect itself as I flew at it. I did an aerial somersault, landed on the shield and used it as grounding to push off of, jumping straight into the air. I chucked my sword downward with the blade facing directly toward the ground. It pierced straight through the foe's head and down its body until it did stick into the stone road below. The Solstice immediately vanished. Another enemy dove in from the side while I was retrieving my sword. Something sharp blasted my hip. I screamed as I was thrown to the ground. I heard other cries, some near and some far, and I had no idea who else was yelling or if it was just my own pain echoing through my head. Was everyone else dying? Were we all already dead?

I have no idea how, but even with all the odds still against us, something inside me forced me to rise again. With bruises on my face and blood-stained clothes, I faced my opponent with no fear whatsoever. The dragon-like enemy stared me down with blood lust in its eyes. It looked just like my Solstice had. And it would go down just as easily.

It lunged and I dove right at it at the same time, forcing my blade through its throat. I heard its screech as nothing more than a faint echo in the distance as I rushed to the next opponent. Time seemed to go in slow motion. Until finally…it stopped. Everything stopped.

The entire world fell silent. A pained but nonetheless relieved feeling entered the air. The battle was over. We had lost comrades, dear friends, and all of us still here were just lucky to be alive. But it was over. The Solstices were all gone. Radiant Garden was once again a hollow, lifeless bastion that would need immense fixing, but we were all still here.

Everyone simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief. Then slowly, smiles emerged. After a moment, some people were even silently cheering. I smiled at them and then pivoted in the direction of the cemetery. I began to walk. Nothing seemed real, maybe because I was so exhausted or maybe because we had just achieved the impossible. Deep down, I hadn't truly expected to succeed, much less come out of this alive _and _as a human again.

The sense of being outside reality only heightened when I reached the graveyard. Every single gravestone had been obliterated except one. And in front of the one stone still standing was Yuffie hunched over the ground, weeping, and Tifa hugging her and telling her it was OK. As I got closer, I saw what she was crying about. There, on the ground, lay the lifeless body of Leon.

My stomach tightened into a hundred knots. I felt my fists ball up and tears that I didn't think I still had left started to come out. "What happened?" I managed to whisper, but it was so quiet that I was surprised they heard me.

Yuffie whipped around and thick, red streaks were painted down her cheeks. She whimpered and I don't think I've ever seen the happy-go-lucky Yuffie look so heartbroken. "He…protected her," she whispered. "He couldn't save her last time but he protected her this time."

Tifa held her friend tight, tears slipping out of her own eyes too. I looked at the gravestone. It read, 'Rinoa'. I struggled to swallow the lump in my throat. I knelt down and squeezed Yuffie's hand. "Hey…we'll bury Leon right here next to her, ok? And Seifer and Melissa too. And-" That's when I realized Kaden couldn't have a proper burial. He was gone. I strained to keep talking. "And we'll have flowers for them and everything. It'll be OK, you'll see." I forced a smile.

Before anyone could say anything else, there was an enormous, literally earth-shaking, grumble. We all struggled to keep from tumbling over. It stopped and there was dead silence again. "What was that?" I demanded, immediately back into defensive battle mode. My instincts were flaring up like crazy. I rushed back to the others with Yuffie and Tifa right behind me.

When I got back to the group, everyone was frozen in shock. "What's going on?" I yelled. Roxas looked at me with a terrified expression.

"It's starting."

"What? What's starting?"

"The end! The end of the world! The universe is collapsing!"

"How? We killed all the Solstices!"

"But they killed all the Heartless! There's no darkness left to counteract anything! The universe is still going to collapse!"

"What do we do?" screamed Hayner.

"I don't know!" There was another enormous quake. We all yelled and tried to keep from falling over. Most of us were unsuccessful. I clambered back up as soon as the shaking stopped.

"So what now? We just give up?" I screamed.

"There's nothing we can do," Riku growled. "After all that, chaos still won."

"We failed, y'know? We failed our team," Rai hung his head.

"No," Roxas stated firmly. "We didn't fail. There are still a few minutes until everything gets destroyed. We can do _something._"

"And what do you suggest we do?" hollered Sora.

"I have an idea," Roxas looked at the ground like he was searching for some other solution. Everyone looked at him pleadingly. "This is all happening because the light and the dark clashed and destroyed each other. If they could just coexist, this would never happen again. There needs to be a middle ground, a place where neither light nor dark can win!"

"What are you suggesting?" demanded Riku as a small tremor grumbled through the ground. Roxas said nothing, but drew his Kingdom Key. With a grave expression, he lifted it and set it to his chest. Everyone gaped in horror.

"No, Roxas, what are you doing?" Sora yelled, running forward to grab the key from him. Roxas shielded it from his fellow Keybearer.

"There has to be a place for both light and darkness! The human heart has both of those things! I can use my own heart to seperate them!"

"Yeah but…why you?" he asked angrily. "Someone else can go. I'll go!"

"You know you can't do that, Sora," Roxas told him. "Katie needs you and you need her. And Riku and Kairi need each other. Tifa and Yuffie need to keep each other strong. Olette and Pence are expecting Hayner to return home. But me…there's nothing left here for me."

"Roxas, that's not true! We need you just as much as-"

"There's no time! There's no other way and you know it!"

Sora's jaw tightened as memories raced before him, memories from their first adventure.

_"No, Sora! You're not giving up your own heart for this! We'll find some other way!"_

_ "There's no other way and you know it!"_

Sora looked down at his shoes in pain. "You're right…there isn't another way." The earth began to shake again, this time even more violently. Everyone leaned on each other for support.

"Now go! Get everyone to the gummi ship and get out of here!" Roxas instructed. He set the key to his chest again.

"Let's go!" Tifa screamed, running for the ship. Hayner, Yuffie, and Rai ran with her.

"No! We're not leaving Roxas behind!" I tugged at Sora's grip as he tried to pull me toward the others.

"Katie, we have to go!" he yelled. "Tifa, bring the ship over here! Hurry!"

She nodded and sprinted toward the gummi hangar.

"Katie, someone has to go!" Riku grabbed my arm. "There's nothing else to do!"

"Then why not me? I was pretty much dead anyway! He never did anything to deserve this!"

"Katie!" Roxas called my name. He looked me straight in the eye as he spoke. "I'll find a way back to you. I promise." Suddenly, the largest tremor yet exploded through the ground and a gaping crack split through the ground.

"DO IT NOW, ROXAS!" Riku shrieked.

"GET OUT OF HERE!"

"THERE ISN'T TIME! DO IT!"

Roxas closed his eyes and plunged the Keyblade into his chest. I wailed and jumped toward him, but it was far too late. I wasn't even sure what I was doing anyway. He was already beginning to disappear. "Katie, no!" Sora cried after me. An absolutely blinding light exploded outward from Roxas. The gummi ship flew overhead at that moment, but it quickly veered up to the heavens to avoid being destroyed. Sora shielded his eyes and braced himself. Kairi leapt in front of Riku to protect him. I, however, was right in front of Roxas when the supernova went off and was completely defenseless. I felt the intense light pierce straight through me and rip me apart from the inside. The radiant noise of the light beams was so loud that I couldn't even hear myself screaming until my throat ached. Then, just as suddenly as the agonizing torture started, it stopped and everything went black.

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><p><em>Where…am I?<em>

_I feel…like I've been sleeping…forever…_

_I don't remember anything…_

_Except…_

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><p>I'm just so evil, ending an entire story with a cliffhanger X) so yes, now I can reveal the big surprise! THIS IS A TRILOGY! Unfortunately, the next story is a huge work-in-progress that won't be ready for quite awhile. In the meantime, check out my other stories, tell me overall thoughts about this story, and keep writing your own fics :D Thanks so much for the tremendous amount of support! This story was one of the most successful ones I've put up so far, so thanks alot! Fans are everything :')<p>

Hope to talk to you all soon!


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